No Going Back
by ChocolateMocha0
Summary: [Discontinued... sort of. Will be updated via author's note ASAP. Stay tuned!] After the memory of the Corrupted Quartz soldier begins to plague him both during the day and in his slumber, Steven decides to release Jasper in an attempt to heal and possibly redeem her. Rated T just to be safe. X-posted on AO3 and Amino.
1. Chapter I - Shattered

**Revised. Still spoilers for the following episodes: _Back to the Moon, Beta,_ and _Earthlings._**

When Steven went to bed last night, he was snug in his bed in the Crystal Temple.

When he opened his eyes again, he was somewhere entirely different.

As he laid on his back in a field of gently swaying grass of a beautiful green hue, he could only see the cerulean sky stretching on forever overhead. A few pinkish clouds rolled past the gleaming yellow Sun, basking the field in a yellow glow and a comfortable warmth, occasionally permeated by a cool breeze.

Steven pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking the time to scan his surroundings.

The field stretched on for miles in every direction. The endless swath of tall grass was only interrupted once, several yards ahead, by a tall oak tree, its bark a pinkish-brown hue, its leaves, oscillated by the gentle wind, the same pale green as the grass beneath it. At first glance, it looked like he was completely alone there, but the fact didn't bother the young hybrid boy as much as it confused him.

He stood up, turning all the way around to give his surroundings a good, accurate surveillance.

 _Hm. Here again?_ Steven thought. He turned to face the tree again, staring hard at it. _Where is she? She's usually here._

With a glance over his shoulder, Steven started walking towards the tree, slowly but surely, casting nervous glances in every direction as if he were waiting for something to jump out at him.

Once he stood within arm's length of the tree, he reached out a hand and ran two fingers across the surface of its bark. It didn't feel hard and rough like one might expect from a tree, it actually felt smooth and surprisingly soft to the touch, like the bark were made out of velvet instead of the natural oak wood. He drew his hand away and tilted his head back so much that he nearly fell backwards, looking skyward into the still swaying green leaves, branches thick and thin webbing beneath the foliage. It felt oddly familiar to him, but he couldn't place _why._

"Ah, I have always loved the unique beauty of this planet."

Steven subconsciously let out a startled yelp when the voice, distinctly feminine with a somewhat motherly edge to it, suddenly hit his ears. Without thinking, he moved in what he only knew as the _opposite_ direction of the voice. The "opposite direction" just so happened to be the side of the tree, sending him slamming hard against it. He let out a pained groan and defeatedly allowed himself to collapse into the grass, flattening some of the thin blades beneath his weight.

He laid there for a few moments, waiting for the soreness in his face and chest to subside. When he felt something tickle the end of his nose, he jumped and his eyes snapped open wide, surprised to find a butterfly sitting there, lightly bobbing its large pink and yellow wings.

Beyond where the butterfly was perched, he could see what looked like a woman towering over him… no, not a woman. She was a Gem. Her skin was a pale pink and her darker hair was fluffy and arranged in a vague star shape that resembled Lion's mane. She was wearing a simple pink ensemble with pastel Diamond insignia on both knees and on her elbows. There was a diamond-shaped cut-out on her belly, revealing a sparkling pink gemstone embedded there of the same shape.

Steven opened his mouth in a soft gasp that scared away the butterfly before throwing both hands to his mouth when he noticed that she was staring absentmindedly at the tree in front of her. She hadn't even noticed Steven's presence there yet and he decided that it was best not to draw any attention to himself.

"It is a shame we cannot have both." the pink Gem said, watching as the butterfly fluttered about in front of her and she reached out her hand, offering a new perch for it. She stared down at the winged insect for a long time once it landed, a sad look in her pink eyes. Steven thought he saw tears forming in them, but they disappeared when she blinked. With a sigh, she outstretched her arm and allowed it to fly away again. A sad smile appeared on her thin lips as she watched it go.

"Heh, what would my sisters think of me, saying something like that? This is __organic__ life, after all. And Homeworld needs their colony much more than they need short-lived organisms like these. Wouldn't you agree?"

Steven tensed when he thought she was directing the question at him until she cast a glance over her shoulder at someone Steven couldn't see from the angle he was laying at. A thick silence hung in the still air before the pink Gem chimed in again, speaking one simple word.

"Jasper?"

 _Jasper?_

"Yes, my Diamond."

Steven's dark eyes went wide and he scrambled hastily to his feet, only to lose his balance and collapse forward against the tree, hitting his head a second time with a pained gasp. He quickly regained his composure and took the time to situate himself in a sitting position against a hollow at the bottom of the tree so that he had a clear view of Pink Diamond and the new arrival.

The half-Gem boy recognized the massive Quartz soldier instantly, but she looked… different. Her golden eyes weren't as intense and the organized chaos that was her waist-length blonde hair was half the length that he remembered it, barely reaching to her shoulders. Even her voice seemed decidedly less raspy and no longer bore a constant tinge of bitterness and hatred. She seemed calm and collected, something that felt so uncharacteristic for the banded Quartz.

She almost seemed… _happy._

Instead of her brownish-red uniform with a yellow insignia on the chest, she wore a dark pink dress that was adorned with several fancy embellishments. The Yellow Diamond insignia was replaced with an identical one, except this one was Pink. Steven inwardly assumed that it probably had something to do with her change in attitude.

Steven jumped slightly, having been so enthralled with examining Jasper's attire that he didn't notice Pink Diamond approaching the tree, coming uncomfortably close to where Steven sat. He moved to try and get out of her way before she noticed him, but it was already too late. With two elegant steps, Pink's legs would have touched Steven's feet, but he was surprised to find that his own organic form simply passed through her hard-light one. It was like she wasn't even there. The Diamond didn't pay the fact any mind as she outstretched her arm and pressed her palm against the tree's smooth bark.

She let out a quiet sigh as she ran her hand down the tree trunk's length, stopping just above Steven's bush of dark hair, pulling away and turning away to face Jasper who only stood there, watching her Diamond from afar. Both hands were tucked behind her back as she patiently waited. Her face was an unreadable blank slate, devoid of any emotion.

"Come now, Jasper. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

That was all Pink said before she began striding forward, brushing past Jasper; she appeared to stand a head or two taller than the Quartz. Jasper crossed her wrists in the Diamond salute, bowing her head as she echoed her earlier statement, "Yes, my Diamond." and she turned, beginning to follow close behind without a second of hesitation.

Steven attempted to cross his wrists in the same manner, but no matter how he tried it, it always proved painful. He dropped both hands into his lap when he noticed Jasper stop suddenly, watching as the butterfly fluttered near her. She paused and held up her orange right hand, opening her fingers and allowing the butterfly to land on her palm. Steven's eyes widened as the Quartz simply stared down at it. Jasper had proved to be a savage, ruthless warrior in all their past encounters and Steven couldn't believe he was witnessing her doing something so… serene.

It _was_ serene until her fingers snapped closed in a flash, clenched into a tight fist.

She didn't even flinch as two battered pink and yellow wings slipped from her deadly grasp and fell to the ground. The boy's eyes went even wider as she upturned her hand and allowed the crushed remnants of the tiny, now wingless insect to fall to the ground as well, joining its severed wings hidden within the blades of grass.

Steven looked past her in the distance as Pink turned to face Jasper, calling after the Quartz. Jasper was quick to begin sprinting to catch up with her.

And just like that, Steven was no longer sitting against a tree in a beautiful field on a warm spring day.

He was now sitting against the spidery leg of an all too familiar Palanquin of a bright pink colour beneath a dark sky that was filled with thick, ominous clouds, heavy with rain that threatened to fall. Mere inches in front of him sat a pile of violet gem shards. Steven let out a strangled gasp and immediately tried, but failed, to scramble backwards away from them. When that failed, he jumped up and ran a couple of steps, only to clumsily trip and tumble towards the bottom of the steep hill. He tensed when his uncontrollably rolling form fell right through that of Pink Diamond where she stood at the bottom of the hill. Steven fell helplessly to the ground at the feet of another Gem that stood about five feet in front of her, facing the taller pink Gem.

Flipping wearily onto his back, Steven glanced in Pink's direction for a moment. Her hair was a frazzled, dirty mess, her whole body visibly battered and scraped, her ensemble, barely visible beneath a scarred suit of pinkish white armour, was now shredded and torn apart. Flanking her were four more Gems: a familiar orange and red Quartz and three Ruby foot soldiers. One of them had a gemstone that replaced her left eye, a small chisel knife clenched in her right hand.

Steven felt his whole body tense up when he realized just where he was, or rather, _when_ he was. He turned his attention to the Gem standing over him.

 _Mom?_

"I've already told you once, Rose Quartz. _Stand._ _D_ _own!_ This fight is already lost!"

"But it isn't. We still have plenty of Crystal Gem soldiers to spare, and none of us will rest until the innocent natives of this planet have been liberated."

"'Innocent na…'? Ugh… they are short-lived organic creatures that need to be _purged_ for the sake of our Homeworld!"

"But you shared _my_ sentiment once, you saw the beauty in this planet just as I did, and you longed to _protect_ them! To keep them _alive!_ What happened to _that_ Pink Diamond? The one who saw perfection in _im_ perfection, the one who longed to be _different!_ The one who was my _friend!"_

"She's gone now, Rose. _Shattered_ into a million pieces, because _I_ realized that those sentiments were a delusional fantasy! The Gem Homeworld _needs_ this colony, not a bunch of organics sapping it of its valuable resources and material! Look around you, Rose! We could form thousands, possibly _millions_ of new Gems here! We could be _unstoppable!_ Isn't that what you want? What's best for your _home?"_

 _No._ Steven inwardly responded, but he couldn't bring himself to actually speak up. He tensed when silence fell over the Gems. Rose Quartz glanced away, looking around with an unsure look in her dark pink eyes.

"No." Rose echoed. "Not if it means everyone and everything here will _die."_

" _What?!_ You… Y-You can't be serious, Rose! After all these millennia, you're just going to give up everything?! On Homeworld, you have the loyalty and respect of hundreds of Gems! You have a reputation, you have luxury, you have everything a Gem could ever wish for! What do you have on this—this… _rock?!"_ Pink paused her enraged shouting to scoop up a clod of dirt in her hand. "This… this _dirt?"_ She let it pour away through her fingers. "Is that what you want, Rose Quartz? Is _that_ what you're fighting for?! Giving up everything you have for _nothing?!"_

Rose looked Pink Diamond in the eye as she spoke, "It may not seem like much to you."–she added softly to herself–"Not anymore."–she then rose her voice to an audible tone again–"But it means so much more to me and the Crystal Gems. All you have to do is give it a chance and then maybe you'll see that!"

Pink Diamond growled and clenched both hands into tight fists. Anxiety stabbed into Steven's heart and he crawled out of the Gems' way as he watched Jasper and the Rubies summoning their respective weapons. Eyeball's mouth stretched into a wide, sadistic grin as she held her knife out in front of her, aiming it straight at Rose's exposed gemstone. Steven let out a whimper, grabbing his shirt, feeling his own gem beneath the fabric, as the sight caused unwanted memories to re-enter his mind.

Likewise, Rose's gemstone, exposed by a diamond-shaped hole in her armour, began to glow and a familiar pink shield appeared in her hand. From the scabbard on her back, she unsheathed a massive pink sword and held it at her side, its blade pointed at the Gems in front of her.

"Y-You're a _fool,_ Rose! You're outnumbered, you have been ever since day one!" Pink shouted, a livid look in her dark pink eyes. "I'll give you one last chance to _stand down!_ You can put an end to your silly 'rebellion' and you can return back to Homeworld with me! We can forget this little mistake ever happened! Or…" She outstretched her arm again, fingers open, her palm facing the sky. "you can have your gem _shattered_ by my hand!" She punctuated her words by clenching her fingers into a fist like she were crushing Rose's pink gem within it.

For a moment, Rose Quartz looked unsure of herself, thinking her Diamond's words over. Steven tensed from where he sat on the sidelines, silently pleading with her to refuse Pink's offer as if he were watching a particularly captivating action movie.

Rose let out a sigh and opened her hand, her sword abruptly falling to the ground with a metallic clatter.

Steven let out a horrified gasp and he saw Pink Diamond's eyes go wide, looking just as surprised as he was. Jasper's mouth was hanging open in disbelief and Eyeball looked disappointed.

Then, Rose reached up and covered up her gemstone with her hand, her palm resting against its faceted surface. She closed her eyes and Steven saw a glow emanate from beneath her open hand. When she pulled it away again, the diamond-shaped hole in her armour was replaced the shape of a five-pointed star, matching the yellow one upon Steven's red shirt. The insignia of the Crystal Gems. That prompted a gasp from Pink as Rose bent down and grabbed the hilt of her sword, lifting it up again, a hard look in her eyes.

"Then so be it." was all she said. Her voice was low, an uncharacteristic coldness to her tone.

Steven winced as Pink Diamond let out an irate sound that sounded like a cross between a growl and a battle cry. Taking a single step forward, she pointed a finger in Rose's direction. That was all she had to do for Jasper and the Rubies to spring into action.

Jasper attempted, twice, to smash her orange crash helmet into Rose's gem, but on both occasions, the blows were subverted by her huge pink sword.

Rose whipped around in a full circle. As she did so, she threw her shield at a Ruby that was leaping at her from behind, the shield slicing through her torso like it was nothing. Her gemstone, placed on the small Gem's forehead, fell to the ground as her physical form disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.

Once she faced Jasper again, she held the sword up vertically between them, Jasper's third attempt at hitting her being disrupted once again, prompting a frustrated growl from the soldier before Rose shoved the sword forward, sending Jasper skidding backwards. Her feet were planted firmly to the ground, leaving two shallow ruts through the dirt in her wake.

Eyeball attempted to get a blow in on Rose from behind with her knife, but the pink-haired Quartz was faster, expertly dodging every strike the Ruby tossed at her. She jumped into the air and flipped backwards, landing behind Eyeball as the third foot soldier lashed her double-tailed whip in Rose's direction, missing and tangling it around Eyeball's knife instead. The Ruby's eyes went wide as Eyeball snarled at her, instantly releasing her grip on the whip, causing it to disappear in a stream of white glitter.

Before she had a chance to summon a replacement, Rose had shoved the blade of her sword straight through the Ruby's chest, avoiding the gemstone on her upper back by less than an inch. She poofed into another cloud of crimson smoke almost instantaneously.

That was two down and three to go. Steven silently cheered Rose's skills from the sidelines.

Rose leapt over Eyeball a second time to avoid yet another attempt from the Ruby at stabbing the Quartz that towered over her. Rose attempted to get Eyeball through the chest as well, but she had whipped around to face her in an instant, interlocking her tiny blade with the larger pink one. The odds weren't in Eyeball's favour, but she held her own regardless.

With a twist of Rose's sword and jerking the blade upright, Eyeball's chisel slipped from her hand and was thrown into the air, impaling itself into the ground several yards away, well out of the Ruby's reach. Her gemstone glowed as she went to summon a new one, but it was interrupted as Rose lifted her sword up over her head, preparing to bring it down upon her enemy. Eyeball's instinctive reaction was to lift both arms over her head, crossing her wrists over one another. The blade sliced through her wrists effortlessly as it came down, both hands instantly disappearing in smaller, individual puffs of smoke.

For three tense seconds, Eyeball and Rose both stared at her injuries in wide-eyed shock; had she not been a Gem, it would've been a lot more gruesome. Rose glanced up at Eyeball, an apologetic, concerned look in her eyes. When Eyeball looked up to meet her pink gaze, pure hatred burned within her dark red one. However, before either of them could make a move, Rose cast a glance over her shoulder when she heard a strange buzzing sound from behind.

Steven barely managed to keep himself from intervening when he saw Jasper rolling into her spin-dash attack, barreling straight towards Rose from behind. But Rose didn't need any protection as she leapt backwards into the air, flipping once above the fiery ball and landing impressively on her feet. She watched as Jasper uncontrollably smashed straight into Eyeball before unfurling a few feet behind the red Gem.

Jasper's golden eyes went wide as she looked down at Eyeball. She hadn't been poofed, but her physical form was faltering and it looked like she didn't have much left in her.

Even after all the Ruby had done to him in the past, Steven's heart still went out to her. She was severely injured and looked ready to retreat into her gem at any moment, and yet, she still didn't. She still laid there and fought it, even though she was no longer any use to their fight.

With an infuriated cry, Jasper spin-dashed again, intending to hit Rose this time around. Rose didn't dodge it, but re-summoned her shield and held the spinning blur of orange and red back with it to the best of her ability, and once she felt her strength faltering beneath the force of Jasper's attack, she shoved the shield forward and sent Jasper skidding back across the ground again.

"You're putting up a good fight there, Rose Quartz! It's a shame you'll be in shards soon."

Rose Quartz didn't respond to her opponent's taunt and leapt forward, her sword held up over her head, ready to bring it down upon Jasper. But before Rose was even halfway to the ground, a streak of pink leapt into the air and crashed into Rose, sending her tumbling back to the ground. Pink Diamond had a foot on Rose's chest before she had a chance to recover, pinning the Quartz soldier on the ground, where she laid helplessly, flat on her back. The nearby clattering of metal caught the attention of both pink Gems.

They exchanged glances for a second before Rose scrambled after her fallen weapon, but trapped beneath Pink's weight, her mobility was limited. Grabbing the blade's hilt, Pink Diamond pointed the tip of the blade straight at the central pentagonal facet of Rose Quartz's pink gemstone. The sword trembled ever so slightly in her grip.

"Pink, please, don't do this. It doesn't have to end this way." Rose said, her voice low and surprisingly calm.

"All these years. All these _eons!_ I… I thought I could trust you, Rose! You were one of my best soldiers, I thought you would fight on my behalf until the very end! But then you just—just… betray me like this? Betray _everyone?!"_ Pink was almost screaming as she furiously brushed away tears forming in her eyes. The way Rose remained eerily calm beneath her only frustrated the young Diamond even more.

"I thought you were _better_ than this, Pink." Rose admitted, allowing her composure to break slightly. "I remember when you tried to be different, back when you weren't like the others. I respected that… and I respected you and followed you _because_ of that! What happened, Pink Diamond? You were a brave, respectable Gem once!"

Pink looked away, grimacing. With a shrill, enraged cry, she rested her opposite hand atop the sword's hilt and pushed it down. Rose flinched. It didn't shatter or even crack her gemstone, but the tip rested dangerously against its surface. All it would take was a split second of her losing her composure like that again, and Rose would be… Steven didn't even want to fathom it. Rose clenched her plump hands into anxious, trembling fists, but hid her fear well as she spoke.

"Pink, you're going to regret this. So, just put the sword down and…"

" _No!"_ Pink cried out. She paused, and her tone suddenly became eerily stoic and cold, matching Rose's. "Diamonds don't have regrets, _Rose Quartz._ But if I did, I know that _this_ wouldn't be one of them!" She tightened her grasp on the hilt and prepared to penetrate Rose's gemstone, but hesitated for several long, agonizing moments, unable to bring herself to do it.

The last thing Steven saw was a tear streaking Pink Diamond's face before he threw both hands up, completely covering his face and whimpering softly. He knew what was coming, but he didn't want to see it. Ten seconds passed, but they felt like ten hours as Steven sat there, his whole body tense as a stone with fear.

A loud, undefinable sound suddenly hit Steven's ears that made him jump. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he just couldn't place it. All he knew was a sickening crack immediately followed it and a chilling shriek pierced the air. Steven hesitated, before parting his fingers just enough to peek at the scene playing out before him.

Pink Diamond was on the ground now, as was Rose's sword. She was kneeling close to the ground, whimpering and sobbing, her thin arm wrapped tightly around her stomach, hiding her gemstone from view. Steven noticed a white glow seeping from beneath the appendage; it slowly got brighter. Rose Quartz was on her feet in an instant, tears beginning to stream down her face as she cried desperately for Pink to let her help, but the pleas of the Crystal Gems' leader went ignored or unheard by the Diamond.

Steven flinched when he saw brilliant white cracks tracing her skinny form from her head to her feet. They were the worst around her stomach. He wanted to look away, but it was like there was some outside force than prevented him from doing so.

Only a few minutes prior, Pink Diamond had been standing innocently on the sidelines, watching her best soldiers fight Rose Quartz to the point of retreating into their gemstones on Homeworld's behalf. But now, she was on the ground, fatally wounded and crying as she curled up into a pitiful ball at her sworn enemy's feet.

Several more seconds passed that felt like eons; Jasper and Eyeball could only hang off on the sidelines, watching in stunned silence, but knowing there was little they could do about the situation. Pink let out a final, dying scream of pain that was cut off short when her form vanished in an explosion of pink smoke, larger than any Steven had seen before. The air was eerily still and silent as the smoke cleared, leaving a tiny pile of jagged pink gem shards on the ground in her place.

Steven flinched when he heard Rose choking back sobs as she bent down at the shards' side, lifting up one between two violently trembling fingers.

Her grieving tears fell futilely upon it.

Jasper and Eyeball still stood off to the side, their eyes wide with a mixture of horror and increasing sadness. Her entire form shaking, Rose Quartz looked up at both of them, the tears continuing to stream from her eyes. They seemed endless. She mouthed something to the enemy Gems that Steven couldn't make out from where he sat.

All he knew was Jasper suddenly fell at the shards' side as well, slamming her fists to the ground so hard that it cracked apart.

" _MY DIAMOND!"_

Her scream of anguish echoed in Steven's ears as the world morphed into a canyon, its red sandstone walls lined with deformed holes.

Sickly teal splotches of colour now covered Jasper's body, darker horns and spikes protruding from her blonde mane, two tumorous green spikes replacing her intense golden eyes. She no longer looked like the muscular humanoid being he knew so well. She stood on four clawed feet, her form resembling that of a huge, feral canine. She looked like a _monster._ She opened her fanged maw and screamed at Steven as she blindly stared him down.

" _Your Diamond! **Pink! Diamond!"**_

She leapt at him, her massive claws outstretched in front of her, her fanged jaws wide as she let out an unearthly roar as the boy sat helplessly against the wall of the Beta Kindergarten.

Steven's eyes snapped open wide and quickly jerked upright, breathing heavily, his skin and the sheets soaked with cold sweat.

His whole body was shaking uncontrollably. Tears began to form in his eyes as he looked down at his trembling hands. With a soft whimper, he grabbed the yellow star on the front of his shirt and curled into a ball atop his bed, his quiet sobbing the only sound in the dark room **.**

 **Yay! Another SU fic! And yes, it's another Jasperdemption fanfic, like the fandom doesn't have enough of those. XD**

 **So far, Jasper is one of my favorite villains and she's my second favorite Gem overall, behind Peridot (because who doesn't love Peridot?). Seeing Jasper getting Corrupted, poofed, and then bubbled away in _Earthlings_ broke my heart and, ever since, I've longed for her return, to see her healed and possibly even join the Crystal Gems. Okay, maybe not, but at the very least become an unaffiliated ally like Lapis.**

 **Oh, and you thought I was actually gonna show who did in Pink? Ha, of course not! In all honesty, I used to think it was Pearl that did it and Rose took the blame to prevent Pearl from getting hunted down and shattered; the way Pearl always threw herself into the front lines to protect Rose Quartz at all costs (as shown in _Sworn to the Sword_ ), I still feel like it's a likely possibility. But after watching _T_ _he Trial_ , without going into any specifics, I really don't know what to think anymore. But, unless proven otherwise, I will always believe that Pink Diamond's gem was shattered using a Laser Light Cannon (someone could've stolen one, I dunno). You cannot tell me otherwise!**

 **Regarding my one-shot SU fic, _The Corruption and the Quartz_ , I still don't know whether I'll be continuing it or not. For now, though, I'm just going to be working on this one. Read, review, or don't. Stay tuned for chapter two! XD**


	2. Chapter II - Illusions

**Spoilers for _Beta_ (again), _Earthlings_ (again), and, for a couple of sentences, _Bismuth._**

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"But _why?"_ Steven asked, his tone bordering on a whine.

The smooth oval gemstone on Pearl's forehead glowed a pale blue and projected a hologram against the far wall as she spoke, showing a simplistic version of the striped Quartz soldier. "Because, Steven, Jasper is a _very_ dangerous Gem, you saw that with your own eyes. The only reason _anyone_ managed to bubble her away was because she became Corrupted!" The hologram morphed to show Jasper's Corrupted form. The hologram roared softly before it vanished in a pixelated cloud, her disembodied gemstone being encased in a bubble.

Steven grimaced at the images playing out in front of him, grabbing his shirt as memories of his nightmares and of the encounter with Jasper in the Beta Kindergarten came flooding back into his mind. The light from Pearl's gem disappeared, taking the holographic projection with it.

"Are you okay, Steven?" Pearl asked, a concerned look in her cyan eyes as she stared down at the boy.

He stood there, frozen, for a few more seconds before he shook his head clear and regained his composure, jumping back to the original topic as if it had never happened. "But it's not like that! It really isn't! She's just… misunderstood!"

" _Misunderstood?!"_ Pearl scoffed with a dismissive wave of her hand. "There's nothing misunderstood about her! She's nothing more than a savage _brute!_ End of story!"

Steven crossed his arms, looking away from the pale Gem with a huff. "You wouldn't think that if you'd been there."

"Well, from what I heard, she imprisoned a bunch of Corrupted Gems, tried to shatter you, Amethyst, and Peridot, and forced one of those Corrupted Gems to fuse with her in an attempt to win the fight! Tell me, what about _that_ is 'misunderstood'?!"

 _"Because,"_ Steven started, speaking a bit more loudly and forcefully than he'd intended. "she said that Rose Quartz ruined everything for her! Rose _took_ everything away from her! If it…"–Steven hesitated, debating with himself on whether or not to actually say what he was thinking–"...if it weren't for my mom, then Jasper never would've been the way she was! She _wouldn't_ have been a savage brute! She—She actually would've been _happy!_ It's all mom's fault that she _wasn't!"_

Pearl's eyes went wide and she flinched at the piercing words Steven threw at her. "Steven…"

"No! I…! I—I…" Steven trailed off. He let out a sigh, half frustrated and half forlorn, as he hung his head, struggling to fight back tears.

"Steven," He tensed as Pearl approached him and rested a thin hand on his trembling shoulder. "it—it's not Rose's…"

"Yes, it was. I-I'm so tired of seeing so many Gems suffer because of what _she_ did. I'm tired of all of these Gems hating _me_ because of what she did! It—It's not fair… I never wanted to hurt anyone, I—I just wanted to help them, but none of them would let me… because of what mom did."

Pearl glanced around silently, trying and failing to find the right words to say, so she crouched down and pulled him into a gentle embrace instead. He didn't return it and, after about three seconds, he pulled away from her, wiping the tears from his eyes. He looked up at Pearl and met her gaze with wide, teary eyes that broke the Gem's heart, but she tried not to show it. "I had a dream last night. I saw her… I—I saw Pink Diamond."

Pearl let out a soft gasp, looking away as she covered her mouth, before looking back at the boy, lowering her hand and forcing an uncomfortable smile down at him that went unnoticed as he lowered his head. "Steven, look, I'd rather not talk about…"

"Well, _I_ do _!_ Why didn't you tell me about her? Why didn't you and the others tell me that mom sh… _shattered her?!"_

"Steven, I… sometimes we… do things that we regret."

"But I thought the Crystal Gems _never_ shattered to win their fights! I thought she was merciful! She bubbled away Bismuth because she didn't want to shatter other Gems to win the War, and then she just… turned around and did it anyway?!" Pearl awkwardly opened and closed her mouth a number of times, trying to figure out what to say, but Steven spoke up again before she could, "J-Just tell me why. Tell me why she did it."

"I…"

"Tell me."

"Steven…"

" _Tell me!"_

"I don't know! Okay?!" Pearl shouted, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Steven stared up at her for a long time, a hurt look in his dark eyes. Pearl was breathing heavily; even though she had no need to, she found that it calmed her whenever she became anxious like this. She met Steven's gaze for a couple of seconds, then lowered her head, not wanting to look at the boy. Tears began forming in her eyes and they fell to the wooden floor.

"I… don't know."

Steven wiped one of his eyes with a hand and glanced up at the painting of Rose Quartz that hung over the door. He sighed and decided he'd rather stare at the floor.

"That's what I thought."

They both remained like that in silence for ten long seconds until Steven got up and began walking towards the Temple Gate.

"Steven, where are you…?" Pearl's question was interrupted and Steven stopped in his tracks when a distinct sound rang out from the Warp Pad. He took a couple of steps back as the cyan light vanished, leaving Garnet and Amethyst standing upon it.

"We're ba-a-ack!" Amethyst announced in a singsongy tone, stretching both arms into the air in a triumphant gesture. She dropped her arms at her sides, one hand casually on her hip, and her expression turned into one of concern when she noticed Steven's tear-streaked face and the hurt look on Pearl's. "Whoa! Uh, what'd we miss?"

Steven simply walked around the Warp Pad with a dismissive, "I don't wanna talk about it." He stood at the Temple Gate, but he didn't get a chance to open it when he felt a hand resting on his shoulder. It startled him a bit, but he quickly recovered when he glanced down at the red hand resting there, partially covered with a black glove.

"Steven," Garnet said calmly. "let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about." Steven said. He lowered his voice so that no-one could hear, adding to himself, "Not anymore…"

"I know that's not true, Steven." She ran her index finger across the surface of her visor. "I saw it, before we returned here. You and Pearl got into a fight. Something's bothering you."

Steven remained silent for a couple seconds longer, before deciding that he was fighting a losing battle. He let out a sigh of defeat. "It—It's Pink Diamond."

He heard a high-pitched whimper from behind him, presumably coming from Pearl. Even Garnet seemed to hesitate for a moment. "…What about her?"

"I had a dream about her, her an-and Jasper. Last night." Steven paused. "I've actually been dreaming a lot about Jasper lately."

Once he trailed off, Garnet stepped around in front of him and crouched down to look him in the eye. "Steven, just remember. Jasper is trapped in a bubble in the Burning Room. She can't escape from that bubble. She can't get to you and she can't hurt you now, no matter what. I promise."

"No. No, that's not the problem." Steven said, looking away as he spoke. "I was actually thinking about… releasing her."

" _Wha?!"_ Amethyst exclaimed in surprise. "But she's _Corrupted_ now, Steven! And hasn't she caused us enough trouble already?"

"I know, I know!" said Steven, becoming increasingly frustrated. "But… these dreams and—and I can't stop thinking about her! I almost feel like she wants to tell me something!"

"She's in stasis within that bubble, Steven. She can't think, she can't feel, and she can't communicate as long as she's bubbled." Garnet stated.

"No, that can't be true! In my dreams, I keep seeing her… and her Diamond. She looked so happy back then and I wanna see if I can help her! Maybe get _her_ side of the story about what happened when Pink Diamond was shattered and get some answers for once! Please, I just want to try… I—I want to give her another chance! Maybe I can help her. Maybe I can _change_ her! For the better!"

Amethyst and Pearl remained silent as Garnet stood up. "You're not going to release her."

"What?! But… but why not?!"

"Because she's too dangerous!" the Fusion shouted. She stared down at Steven, then let out a sigh and calmed herself before she spoke again. "Steven, please. We only want what's best for _you."_

Steven crossed his arms with a huff. "If you _really_ wanted what's best for me then you'd let me do what I want. You'd let me do what's _right!"_

"If we wanted what's best for you, then we wouldn't let you release a ruthless soldier like Jasper back into the world!"

"I _know_ that she's ruthless, but she can still be a better Gem! All we need to do is give her a chance! Give her an _opportunity_ to be a better Gem and then…" Steven trailed off for a moment, his frustrated shouting suddenly devolving into something barely over a whisper. "then… maybe she'll take it."

Everyone fell silent once again, and Steven took that chance to leave. Turning towards the Temple Gate, he closed his eyes as his pink gemstone began to glow beneath his shirt. A rose insignia flashed across the surface of the door, causing it to vanish, leaving the doorway to Rose's cloudy pink room in its place.

"Steven, wait!" Pearl called out.

"No. I… I need to be alone right now."

Without another word, he stepped in, the door poofing away into the pink atmosphere behind him. He walked a ways before he finally stopped, throwing himself backwards onto the cloud floor with a frustrated grunt, allowing his thoughts to wander freely now that he was finally alone.

Unfortunately, whenever he let his mind wander, it always wandered straight to Jasper. He could still hear her voice echoing in his ears, he could still see her face whenever he closed his eyes. Even when he laid down to go to bed at night or sat down to watch TV or play a video game, he would see her silently watching him from the window. Whenever he turned to look, she would vanish the split second before. That Gem was taking over his mind, and it was beginning to drive him crazy.

On one hand, he wished that she would leave him alone. For good. On the other, he continued to feel bad for her. Not only had she lost her Diamond all those centuries ago and gotten repeatedly beaten by the one who killed her, but now, she had lost her mind to Corruption and was trapped in a bubble, possibly forever if Steven didn't find a way to change the Gems' minds. Sometimes, he wondered who Jasper would be if she had never lost Pink Diamond.

Maybe she would've been more patient and motherly like Rose. Maybe she'd be more like those Quartzes at Pink Diamond's old human zoo. Maybe she wouldn't have held such a grudge against Rose Quartz for all these millennia.

At the end of the day, she was still a brute who might just kill him the second she laid eyes on him.

But then again, he'd never really know unless he tried.

Pushing himself upright into a sitting position, Steven glanced around for a few seconds, speaking up in a whisper, "I'm probably going to regret this." Standing up, he looked up at nothing in particular, calling out in a hesitant tone of voice, "Room, show me… show me what'll happen if I release Jasper from her bubble."

Steven's wish was the Room's command. However, it took a bit longer than usual for anything to appear, as if the room itself were hesitating. Before too long, a small lilac bubble poofed into existence within arm's length from where the half-Gem boy stood. Within its confines was a small, diamond-shaped gold and red gemstone. He reached out and took the bubble between both hands, pulling it close, staring at his unsure reflection on its spherical, reflective surface and the disembodied gem floating within it.

He took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes, squeezing the bubble until it vanished in its own tiny pink cloud, fading away as the imitation gemstone fell to the cloud floor at Steven's feet. Bending down, he scooped it up, holding the gemstone between his index finger and his thumb, staring at it until it began letting off a distinct amber glow.

He bit back the urge to re-bubble her and tossed the gem a good distance away from him. Before it could even hit the ground, a vivid white silhouette sprouted from it, taking the vague form of a huge, bulky Quartz that crouched down on her hands and knees, facing the floor. Stars briefly entered Steven's eyes as he watched her reform, but they vanished when the silhouette distorted and morphed into something entirely different. Her muscular hands became massive claws, the shapes of spikes began emerging from all over her body, her arms, and her legs. Her entire physical form took a much more animalistic shape.

Steven took a step back, watching uneasily as the light faded away, leaving an illusion of the Corrupted Quartz standing in front of him. With little hesitation, he summoned his shield, holding it protectively in front of him. He looked up in stunned silence at the Corruption, her whole body rising and falling rhythmically with raspy, audible breaths as she glared down blindly at the boy in front of her with dark green tumorous spikes that replaced her golden eyes.

"Jasper…?"

In response, she opened her fanged maw and let out an extended, monstrous roar, powerful enough to blow Steven back like a particularly strong gale. He dug his feet into the floor to avoid being thrown back, tensing and squeezing his eyes shut, a vice grip on his shield. By the time she went silent and Steven blinked his eyes open again, it was already too late. The Quartz was within arm's length of him, raising one of her massive claws with a snarl of exertion. Steven instinctively lifted his shield to block her attack, but that didn't keep her claws from leaving a thin laceration just above his left eye. He let out a cry of pain and stumbled back, glancing up with teary eyes as Jasper lunged at him again with her opposite foreclaw.

His shield vanishing, Steven outstretched both arms at his sides. As Jasper's blow came down, it did little more than scrape the impenetrable, translucent surface of the magenta bubble Steven had formed around himself.

He looked up at her as she hesitated, tilting her head as if silently wondering why her strike didn't hit the target this time, before opting to violently batter the bubble beneath her huge claws with a cacophony of frustrated roars and growls. Steven's desperate cries for her to stop were ignored as she continued to strike and claw his bubble shield like an enraged animal.

Steven cowered at the back of the bubble, staring up at the Corruption until a drop of blood falling onto the floor of the bubble caught his attention. He winced at the sight and lifted a trembling hand to the cut on his head. He hissed as he pressed his palm to it, holding his hand out in front of him to examine the damage, horrified to find a sizable stain of fresh blood on his palm. He gasped in shock at the sight, causing Jasper to pause for a second before she proceeded to ram her head into the side of the bubble, sending it rolling uncontrollably away.

 _I can't keep this up forever!_ Steven's thoughts told him as he popped the bubble to stop the chaotic rolling in its tracks. _If I don't do something soon, she might…_ He gulped nervously as he turned to face Jasper again, the Quartz beginning to charge straight towards him.

Glancing down at his hands for a moment, he wiped the blood away on his pants' leg and licked his palm a couple of times, looking past his hand at the sprinting Corruption. He closed his eyes, even as Jasper closed in on him, and began blindly sprinting towards her.

 _Please, Jasper, just let me help you._

His eyes snapped open wide at the last possible moment, Jasper lifting a claw into the air and swiping at him in the same instant. Ducking down, causing her claws to slice through nothing but empty air, he pushed himself forward, jumping up with his arm outstretched, and smacked his saliva-coated palm against the surface of her gemstone. She seemed a bit stunned by his action at first, then let out an enraged growl, lifting her other claw in an attempt to lash out at him, but she never got the chance to. Her physical form becoming engulfed in a blinding white light that froze her in place like a statue.

Shielding his eyes with his forearm, Steven stepped back a few feet as he watched his healing spit do its work.

For a long time, the glowing silhouette did little more than distort and ripple in a shapeless, deformed mess, occasionally trying to take one of the two forms before it fell apart again.

Steven tensed as he watched her in silence. _Come on, Jasper, you can fight this!_

As if he'd thought the magic words, the silhouette stopped moving for a moment, glitching and distorting, then finally began to take a much more humanoid form once it re-stabilized. Stars once again entered Steven's eyes as the light faded away.

Jasper crouched on her hands and knees, breathing heavily and trembling slightly. Her long, messy blonde hair fell down and into her face, shielding it from view. Steven at first thought it was best not to startle her, but after she stayed that way for a good twenty seconds, he took a couple of cautious steps in the illusion's direction, holding out a shaking hand towards her.

"J-Jasper?" he began, his voice low and a bit shaky. "Are… you okay?"

He flinched when she snapped her head up to face him, her hard golden eyes gleaming ominously from beneath the shadows cast by her unkempt hair.

" _Ah!_ You… you! I'll… _I'll_ … agh! _"_ She trailed off when she noticed her arms. She lifted her left arm, red from her elbow to her finger tips, turning it over in front of her, repeatedly flexing her thick red fingers in and out of a fist, her golden eyes growing wider and wider as she stared down at it. Other than a few small, insignificant splotches of residual teal Corruption, it looked exactly as it had before she fused with that Corrupted Gem back in Beta.

She was actually… _healed._

She looked up at Steven again. "…Why?"

Steven's eyes widened at her sudden question. He fiddled with his fingers in front of his chest, glancing about nervously, opening and closing his mouth, searching for the right thing to say.

"I asked you a question." Jasper reminded him, her voice low and hostile. _**"Why?!"**_

Steven recoiled instinctively at her sudden shout. "Because I… you… _ugh."_ He trailed off momentarily with a frustrated sigh. "I—I thought you needed help, Jasper. That's why."

"You thought _nothing!"_ Jasper pushed herself up from the floor, staggering as she got up and stood at her full height. _"_ Who said I wanted your help? Who said that I wanted to be healed?!" Steven looked on with wide, fearful eyes as she summoned her crash helmet atop her head. She was in front of him with three great strides, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and jerking him up to eye level. "Who said… that I _ever wanted… to come… back!?"_ With a grunt of exertion, she threw Steven away from her, sending him tumbling to the cloudy floor several yards away with a pained moan.

Flipping onto his side, he fluttered his eyes open, watching as she slowly began to approach him, a vicious smirk appearing on her lips. "Besides, I know why you're _really_ here, I know why you _really_ healed me."

"Wha…? No! Please stop, Jasper, I'm not trying to manipulate you! I'm not trying to hurt you! I'm not trying to do any of those things!"

"Heh-heh. After all I did to you, to your friends, and you _still_ went out of your way to save me. Why else would someone… like you _ever_ want to help someone, a _brute,_ like—like _me_ _?"_

"Because, Jasper, nobody deserves Corruption! Whether you're a brute or not, you don't deserve _this!"_

" _Fool!"_ she hissed. A horrified look entered Steven's eyes as he laid there: with every step she took, more and more of her Corruption returned to her features. It started with the splotches of teal, then the dark green spikes began protruding from her hair and from her splotchy skin. The Quartz didn't even seem to notice. "I'm suffering because it's what I _deserve._ We _all_ get what we deserve!" She was on him in an instant, pinning him to the floor, a clawed hand sinking into his chest, beginning to draw blood that was camouflaged by his red shirt. She lifted up the bottom of his shirt, revealing his sparkling pink gemstone to both of them. "Except for _you,_ Rose Quartz. Until… _now!"_

She had the claws of her opposite hand latched onto the edges of Steven's gem in an instant. She twisted it hard, pulling at the same time, intending to rip it right out of his stomach.

Jasper may have been little more than an illusion created by the Room, but the pain caused by her attack was very much real.

" _Ahh! A_ _ahh!_ _! N-No!_ I—I didn't… _want..._ _**this!"**_ Steven cried out in the midst of his agonized screaming.

His whole body trembled violently as he summoned a spiked bubble shield around him. When the pink spikes pierced her form, Jasper abruptly disappeared in an explosion of pink smoke.

He laid against the floor of the bubble, tears streaming from his eyes as he rested a hand atop his sore gem, breathing heavily, struggling to come to terms with just how close he came to dy… to losing his gem. He groaned painfully, clapping twice and causing the bubble to disappear, dropping him onto the cloud floor again. He moaned as he writhed there. Every fibre of his being _hurt_ and, no matter what position he laid in, it couldn't be relieved.

With another pained sound, he staggered upright, swaying and nearly losing his footing at first. His voice strained with agony, he choked out, "Room, I—I… I want to go home. No, scratch that. I—I wanna go home and be with the Gems… _for real."_ A second passed, and the door appeared out of thin air in front of him. He wrapped an arm around his stomach as he limped towards the door. He hesitated for a moment, casting a glance over his shoulder at the Room's interior, before opening the door and returning to the Temple.

 **Jasper seems to have a... traumatizing effect on the Gems she encounters. Let's see, there was Lapis Lazuli as of the episode _Super Watermelon Island_ , though she seems to be recovering a bit as of _Lost at Sea_ after uppercutting Jasper into the ocean. From the episodes _Crack That Whip_ to _Earthlings_ , Amethyst was having a similar Jasper-induced ordeal after she not only had her physical form crushed by Jasper, but her self-esteem as well. She even reformed with a squinty eye, much like Jasper's is.**

 **I feel like, after all he went through, Steven should've had a similar obsessive reaction regarding Ms. Perfect Quartz. She tried to shatter him on several occasions, she tried to shatter his friends a few times, she nearly blasted all of them into oblivion in their very first encounter, she hit him so hard that he was knocked out cold in their first encounter, she brutally poofed Amethyst and Garnet both right in front of him, and then he witnessed her slowly and painfully Corrupting after fusing with a Corrupted Ocean Jasper while she was screaming in pain and fear all the while. And now, to top it all off, he knows that the only reason she's so hostile is because his mom shattered Pink Diamond, seemingly for little reason other than they had different views on the world around them. It was shown in _Mindful Education_ that he's having some bothersome memories regarding her, Eyeball, and Bismuth, but I feel like that was resolved way, _WAY_ too fast.**

 **So, here it is, Steven's Jasper-induced mental breakdown... at least until he manages to partially heal her Corruption and starts getting through to her a little. That's all for now, and thanks for all that feedback, you guys! Means a lot! Stay tuned for chapter three! XD**


	3. Chapter III - Eye To Eye

**Spoilers for _Alone Together_ (if you haven't seen that episode yet, then why are you here?) and, as per usual, _Beta_ and _Earthlings._**

Pearl and Stevonnie stood toe-to-toe in the Ancient Sky Arena.

The former held two long silver swords outstretched at her sides, the latter held Rose's huge pink sword in the air between them, blade pointed to the sky.

"Ready?"

Pearl smirked confidently at the hybrid Fusion. "As I'll ever be!"

Stevonnie's lips stretched into a grin and, taking the hilt of Rose's sword in both hands, she lunged forward at Pearl, the blade aimed at the Gem's chest. Pearl crossed both of her own thin swords in an 'X'-shape, the pink sword catching between them, the harsh sound of metal against metal echoing through the arena. Twisting her blades, Rose's sword was promptly pushed away with a sharp _shing!_ and sent Stevonnie skidding back.

Pearl hesitated for a split second as Stevonnie staggered for a moment, nearly losing her footing, but she quickly regained her composure and rushed Pearl again, sword at the ready. Pearl shrugged off her opponent's slip-up and stepped to the side at the last possible moment, holding her left sword out in the air, directly in the Fusion's path. Stevonnie let out a startled gasp and threw herself to the ground, rolling beneath the sword and landing in a crouching position on the opposite side. She exhaled softly and pushed herself up off of the ground and leapt up in Pearl's direction, her mouth opened in a fierce battle cry.

The Gem stood motionless, turned away from Stevonnie as the Fusion lunged at her. But, in a flash, she had whipped around to face Stevonnie and interlocked one of her two swords with Rose's, the blades scraping noisily against each other as they both fought for dominance.

Stevonnie let out a grunt of exertion under breath, feeling herself beginning to falter. Pearl noticed it too, but forced herself to focus. The kids had been training with her for months now, surely they knew what they were doing. Twisting her own blade around the larger pink one, Stevonnie watched in surprise as her sword slipped from her grip, launched into the air. It flipped once, several yards overhead, before falling blade first behind her.

Stevonnie and Pearl stared each other down for a moment before the former turned and rushed towards where the sword waited, half-embedded into the ground. Leaping into the air, Pearl twisted her body around and landed on both feet on the opposite side of the fallen sword. She rushed Stevonnie, both swords aimed at her opponent. Stevonnie faltered for a split second, before breaking into a run as well, grabbing the sword from the ground as she passed by it and swinging it around in Pearl's direction. She didn't foresee the Gem leaping into the air a second time to dodge her blow, causing Stevonnie to unintentionally twirl around in a full circle.

As she did so, her feet became clumsily twisted around each other. With a yelp of surprise, she collapsed face-first onto the ground.

With a soft groan, Stevonnie looked up with just her eyes to meet Pearl's gaze. The Gem simply stood over her, a stern but concerned look in her light blue eyes. Stevonnie forced a nervous smile up at her, chuckling uneasily as she pushed herself up onto her feet again.

"Heh, just kidding! J-Just…" The Fusion's trailed off into silence when something strange happened. The sky turned a Hellish crimson hue and her surroundings became basked in a warm red-orange colour; the very instant it appeared, it flickered away. _What the…? What was tha…?_ Her thoughts were cut off when she saw Pearl leap several feet into the air, both swords held up over her head.

As Stevonnie watched her come down, her focus faltered as everything began flickering red again, but quickly returning to normal as it had prior.

"Wh-What's going on?" Stevonnie whispered to herself.

 _Steven, what is that?_ Connie asked.

 _I—I don't know._ Steven admitted, wondering himself whether he was lying or not.

Stevonnie jumped backwards just as Pearl landed. She hadn't expected Pearl to lunge forward, one of her swords pointing straight at Stevonnie's chest.

Summoning her shield completely slipped her mind as she squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing. She stood there, tense, for five long seconds, before she mustered up the courage to open her dark brown eyes again. The first thing she saw was the Hellish red scenery and… _something_ standing behind Pearl. In an instant, all of it disappeared and Stevonnie found herself standing there, frozen, the end of Pearl's blade hovering inches from the star on her chest.

Pearl's eyes were wide at first, shocked by how close she had come to stabbing the Fusion, having expected her to instinctively summon her shield to block it. Shaking off her reaction, Pearl narrowed her eyes into a stern glare, but stepped back and allowed her arms to relax at her sides. Finally allowing herself to breathe again, Stevonnie dropped to her knees with a frustrated groan, covering her face with both hands in shame.

"I'm sorry, Pearl. I—I guess I'm just… a little out of practice." Stevonnie admitted, looking up wearily at her mentor.

"Hm. In that case, perhaps we should review what I have taught you… _tomorrow."_

"What?! No! Scratch that, it'll be fine! Honest! We're just a little… a little, uh…"

"You're uncoordinated." Pearl finished for her. "Your stance is lacking and your strategies are all over the place! What if we were in a _real_ fight, Stevonnie? I can assure you that any enemy worth fighting wouldn't have hesitated when they saw you freezing up like that! They would've seen that as the perfect moment to _strike!"_ She punctuated the last word by lifting one of the two blades and pointing it at Stevonnie again.

Stevonnie flinched slightly at her stern words, but forced herself to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I…"

Pearl sighed. "You don't need to apologize. You need to do _better."_

Stevonnie nodded a couple of times, but didn't meet Pearl's gaze. "Yes, ma'am. I'll try… no, I _will_ do better next time! I promise, Pearl, I won't let you down!"

Pearl smiled in slight amusement. "Very good. You can go ahead and return to the Temple, I'll meet you ther…"

"What?! No, give us another chance! Please!"

"Wha… right now?" Pearl said, a little surprised. "Stevonnie, are you sure you're feeling up to it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the Fusion said confidently. She picked up Rose's sword off the ground and gripped the hilt in one hand, resting it on her right shoulder. "I'm ready when you are!"

Pearl stared at her for a bit longer, a skeptical look in her eyes. Stevonnie's determined expression faltered a bit until Pearl let out a defeated sigh.

"Don't be afraid to call it off if you need to. Your tactics seem pretty rusty, and I don't want to risk hurting you or your components because of that!"

"You won't, I can guarantee that!"

Pearl hesitated for a moment as Stevonnie swung her sword down and dropped the hilt into her opposite hand. She adjusted her grip on it for a moment, and sprinted straight towards Pearl, yelling out a battle cry as she swung the sword in Pearl's direction. The Gem leapt backwards into the air, landing on her feet several yards away, before charging at Stevonnie, both swords crossed between them.

The scenery began flashing red again. Out of the corner of her eye, Stevonnie caught a glimpse of the large orange shape she'd seen before, but the moment she turned to look, everything was normal again, taking the anomaly away with it. Shaking her head with an annoyed grunt, she returned her attention to the charging Gem. The pink gemstone in her belly glowed momentarily and a large shield materialized into her waiting hand. She held it protectively in front of her before turning it on its side, launching it at Pearl like a frisbee.

Pearl's eyes went wide and she flattened herself to the ground, sliding underneath the flying shield. As soon as the shield had passed overhead, she lifted both swords over her head again as she forced herself upright, preparing to bring them down upon Stevonnie. Smirking slightly, she summoned her magenta bubble, causing the blades to be deflected off of its impenetrable surface. Pearl smiled in satisfaction as she skidded backwards, quickly recovering and throwing one of her swords in Stevonnie's direction, twirling around elegantly as she threw the other. Her own gem glowed as she summoned her spear, simultaneously watching how Stevonnie deflected the attack.

Stevonnie summoned her shield a second time and the flying blades stabbed straight through its translucent face; she cringed at how close the blades' tips came to her face on the opposite side. Turning the shield upside down, the blades that stuck through it pointing upwards, she threw it. In rapid succession, she summoned two more shields and sent them both flying in Pearl's direction.

Pearl caught the first one in her hands as simply as catching a frisbee, removing one of the two impaled swords and sending the shield flying into the air. She used her retrieved sword to knock one of the shields out of the air and threw her spear at the final one. It severed straight through Rose's emblem in the centre of the shield, pinning it to the ground before both of them dissipated in cloud of white sparkles. The first shield vanished before it came back down, leaving the sword alone tumbling through the air. Outstretching her free hand into the air, she clenched her fingers into a fist the instant she felt the hilt brush against her palm, bringing the sword down to eye level with a smug smirk.

Stevonnie looked on in silent awe, but shook it off and charged in Pearl's direction, her pink sword held out in front of her. She propelled herself into the air, leaping up and pushing off of the ground with the sword's tip like a vaulting pole, soaring into the air with her sword in the air, grinning widely down at her opponent as she lifted the weapon up over her head.

However, as she came down, the scenery flickered for a moment. Stevonnie didn't pay it any mind until everything was shrouded in the Hellish red-orange, and this time, it didn't expire like it had before.

"Huh?"

Stevonnie landed hard on the ground in front of Pearl, staggering and nearly falling, but she quickly regained her composure. Everything looked relatively normal, excluding the red hue over everything… up until Stevonnie got a little closer at Pearl and noticed that there was something off about her. As she cautiously approached the Gem, Stevonnie stopped in her tracks with a startled gasp. "What the…?"

Pearl hung her head, two large swords, almost the size of Rose's, held at her sides, their golden blade tips touching the ground. Stevonnie at first thought the orange tint to her skin came from the weird hue of everything, until she noticed the red bands on her face and arms. Stevonnie suppressed a startled whimper as Pearl slowly tilted her head up. Her short blonde hair partially covered her left eye. Her right eye was in full view, the Sun glinting off of an intense yellow iris. When she noticed the unsettled look in Stevonnie's eyes, her lips stretched into a wide, fanged grin.

" _Rose…"_

"J-Jasper?!" Steven cried through the Fusion.

The Gem chuckled sadistically under her breath as her form turned to white light and morphed into her larger, bulkier physical form. Once the light faded away, Stevonnie tensed as she found herself staring into the eyes of the savage Quartz soldier, who towered over her, dual wielding two huge swords of gold.

"Did you miss me, Rose?"

"Ugh… s-stay away from me!"

Stevonnie began taking shaky steps away from the Quartz, both her shield and her sword held protectively in front of her. After a moment of pause, Jasper slowly began matching her footsteps, closing in on the Fusion more and more.

 _Steven, what is_ she _doing here?!_

 _I don't know, I don't know!_ he cried out. _I—I thought I was past this!  
_

 _What?_

Stevonnie whimpered as she squeezed her eyes shut, tears seeping from her closed eyelids. "Please… don't do this!"

 _Steven… Steven, it's okay! Just—Just breathe! Just breathe, and relax!_ Connie coaxed him.

 _I—I am breathing!_

 _Calm down! J-Just remember, she's not real! She can't hurt us!_

Stevonnie's eyes snapped open wide with a startled gasp when Jasper roared out a battle cry, lunging at the hybrid Fusion and sweeping both swords over her head. Stevonnie dropped to the ground with a cry; if she hadn't, she could've been left with a couple of bad lacerations on her face… or worse. Standing back up, Stevonnie hastily stumbled backwards as Jasper stabbed at both of her legs, cackling maniacally at her fear.

 _Focus, Steven! Remember what Garnet said! Just breathe, and focus, it'll be oka…_

Connie was cut off when Stevonnie staggered back, letting out a choked cry. She froze solid for a moment, breathing heavily. But every breath was a burning, painful one.

Hot tears formed in Stevonnie's dark eyes as she shakily looked down: Jasper's sword was impaled straight through her chest. She felt nauseous when she realized she could feel the end of the blade sticking out of her upper back. Neither of them seemed to notice the distinct lack of blood coming from the injury. She shakily looked up to meet Jasper's intense golden gaze, the Quartz soldier grinning down viciously at her.

Stevonnie's whole form was beginning to tremble and she could feel herself beginning to falter, but she couldn't just unfuse. Not now. Not until this was _over._

Stevonnie let out a pained whine as Jasper jerked the blade from her chest, nearly causing her to collapse right then and there. She held a fist against her chest, hiding the nonexistent wound from view. But, with a weak grunt, she flipped backwards into the air, one of her feet connecting with Jasper's red left hand. The contact knocked her hand upward, her fingers opening involuntarily and her sword flying into the air. As Stevonnie landed on her feet again, she grabbed the hilt of the falling golden blade before it could hit the ground. She looked up at Jasper with an uncharacteristic look of rage burning in her dark eyes. Jasper's own eyes went wide, but Stevonnie hardly noticed as she charged at her, both swords at the ready.

 _Steven…_

"Just…"

 _Stop…_

"…leave me…"

 _No…_

"…alone!"

She punctuated the final word by sweeping both swords in front of her, slicing through Jasper's torso like it was nothing, effortlessly bisecting her through the middle. Time seemed to slow down as her physical form fell apart before the Fusion. Her yellow eyes were wide, and Stevonnie couldn't help but notice a look of sheer terror in her round eyes. Stevonnie flinched, feeling a pang of guilt in her heart as she stared at her opponent.

"St… Stevonnie…" the Gem whispered. Her voice sounded higher pitched and more effeminate than it had prior.

And, with that, her destroyed physical form vanished in an explosion of white smoke, triggering the scenery to transform back to normal.

Stevonnie gasped and her own eyes went wide, both swords clattering metallically to the ground at her sides. A smooth, round, white gemstone clinked to the ground and rolled on its silver edge, stopping and falling onto its side inches from where Stevonnie stood. Tears began to form in her eyes as she stared in horror at the disembodied gemstone.

" _Pearl!"_

In an instant, Stevonnie vanished, leaving Steven and Connie on the ground in her place.

"Pearl!" Connie cried out, but Steven jumped up and ran over to the fallen gem before she had a chance to.

"Wait! I… I—I can fix it!"

He sat on his knees beside the gemstone and lifted her up in one hand. He stared solemnly at her for a few seconds and proceeded to encase the gem in a magenta bubble, prompting a shocked gasp from Connie. But before she could say anything, he immediately popped the bubble again, catching her gem in both hands before she could hit the ground. He sat there and waited in silence, before he felt the gemstone become warm. In almost the same instant, it levitated from his grasp, surrounded by a brilliant white aura. Getting up off of the ground, he stepped back, standing beside Connie as they silently waited for Pearl to reform.

When she did, she still bore her physical form from before, not getting a chance to pick a new form after Steven forced her to come back prematurely. She landed on both feet, swaying slightly and looking more than a little weary from the prior ordeal. Before she had a chance to do or say anything, Steven rushed forward, pulling her into a tight embrace as tears streamed from his eyes.

"Ah... Steven?"

"Pearl!" Steven sobbed. "I-I'm so sorry! I-It was… I—I didn't… I—I…"

"Steven, Steven…" Pearl said, gently pushing him away and forcing a small smile down at him. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to."

"It-It… I-It's just… Jasper. She… she keeps coming back. And I… I—I don't know why!"

Pearl's smile disappeared at those words and she pulled him close again, stroking his thick, dark hair and whispering comforting words to him as he cried against her. A few moments passed before Connie hesitantly approached, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Steven…?"

"Hm?" he said, pulling away from Pearl and wiping the tears away.

"Why… why didn't you tell me about Jasper?"

He sniffed. "I—I didn't want you to get involved with this. It's stupid and I didn't want you to worry."

"It's not stupid!" Connie retorted. "Steven, if Jasper's back, then I…"

"No, no! She's not back… n-not _really._ I mean, lately, I've been having these… _nightmares_ about her." Pearl grimaced slightly and walked away from the two of them. "I-I feel like she's trying to communicate with me or something, but the Gems keep saying she can't if she's trapped in a bubble. I want to release her, try and get some answers out of her, but…"

"Isn't Jasper Corrupted though?"

"That's the thing! In the Beta Kindergarten, Jasper wouldn't let me try to heal her because she still blamed me for shattering Pink Diamond, so… maybe if I heal her now, then maybe she'll forgive… me…?" Steven trailed off as Pearl approached them again, a stern look in her eyes.

"But you _can't_ heal her, Steven!" Pearl snapped. She paused, taking a deep breath and speaking again in a more even, collected tone, "Not completely anyway. You remember the Centipeetle. You partially healed her Corruption at first, but then, she just lapsed right back into her Corrupted form again. Not to mention Jasper is already so fueled by… bitterness, and hatred. In her case, healing the Corruption won't be so easy!"

"But that doesn't mean I can't try!" Steven shouted, causing Pearl to take a step back. "Jasper wasn't Corrupted the same way Centi was! Centi was Corrupted by the Diamonds… but Jasper's Corruption was passed over by another Gem! Maybe that means she can be healed easier than the damage from the Diamonds can be!"

"But it's still _Corruption!"_ Pearl shouted. As she continued, her voice lowered and she began sounding a bit solemn, _"_ It's not like when their gem is broken, Steven, their _mind itself_ is broken. Their minds become so warped that they don't even remember who they are, so they just… wander aimlessly, attacking everything on sight like wild animals."

"And that's exactly the reason they need to be healed! They're suffering, Pearl!"

"Not in a bubble, they're not!"

"But…"

"End of discussion! You're not going to release her, Steven! That decision is _final!_ It… it just isn't safe!"

"B-But…"

"No, I don't want to hear about this again. Now, come, both of you. We're going back to the Temple for now." The Gem turned to look at Connie, who only stood off to the side, looking more than a little uncomfortable. "Connie, perhaps you should go home for today. We can continue your sword training tomorrow."

She nodded once. "Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Steven writhed as he laid on the ground, flat on his back.

He flipped from one side, then the other, struggling to find a comfortable position, before he gave up and fluttered his tired eyes open. He didn't think much of the yellow sky stretching overhead at first, until he realized that he was no longer in his bed in the Crystal Temple… and that the sky wasn't supposed to be yellow!

His eyes went wide and he quickly sat up, his shocked gaze snapping in every direction in startled confusion. A flat field of yellowish-orange terrain stretched out for miles in every direction, the orange hue of the ground occasionally truncated with streaks of red of varying lengths. Some went on so far that he couldn't even see their end, while others stopped short, coming to a point at one end. Hundreds, possibly thousands of sheer dark green spikes stood in clusters on the orange and red field, some of them stretching miles into the golden sky, others so small that Steven could easily end up stepping on them.

He knew right off that he was dreaming; at this point, having some sort of dream that was plagued by the Quartz soldier was no surprise.

Steven stood up, glancing around cautiously, speaking in a low voice to himself, "Where... am I?

He got no answer in the vast alien land. Once he fell silent, though, he began to notice something: there was the occasional echo that sounded like distant whispering and the eerie howl of a lukewarm wind that blew through the realm.

As turned around to get a better look at this strange dream-world, and that's when he saw it: in the distance, he could see one growth protruding from the ground that was unlike all the others. It had a tall, unnaturally gnarled trunk of dark green with teal splotches and rings covering its surface. From the top of it was a huge canopy of long, feathery leaves of a pale gold colour, almost white. It resembled an unearthly willow tree.

A few feet in front of it, he saw something crouched on the ground, almost camouflaged against the terrain if not for its long mane of blonde hair, several dark green spikes sticking out of it.

 _Jasper!_ Steven's thoughts told him.

He glanced over his shoulder and, deciding that he had nothing better to do, started walking towards her, breaking into an all-out run once he decided simple walking was taking too long.

As he ran, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Jasper!" He got no response. She was crouched down, her head against the ground, shielding her face with both clawed hands. The closer he got, the more noticeably audible the indistinct whispering and muttering to herself became. She appeared to be trembling; whether it was from fear or something else, Steven couldn't really tell.

A few feet away from her, Steven decided to slow to a more patient walk again.

"Jasper! Are… you okay?!" he shouted, a bit louder this time.

Still no response. He tilted his head in confusion and, once he stood within arm's length of her, he hesitated. He took the time to figure out whether or not it would be a good idea to draw attention to himself before he reached out a hand and gently touched her shoulder. "J-Jasper."

She jumped up and practically screamed, whipping around to face Steven. In response, he stumbled back with a startled yelp of his own when he noticed the tumorous green spikes still replacing her eyes. In fact, as he looked over her physical form, he realized that she still retained the exact features of her Corrupted form: the teal splotches, the dark green spikes, the claws, but she still had the physical build of her muscular, humanoid form. Regardless, she could still speak as clearly and intelligibly as ever, but it was much more raspy and had lost almost all femininity it had had prior.

"Ugh… _you_ again." she stated bitterly as she turned away again. "Why do you keep coming back?"

Steven hesitated for a couple of seconds. When he spoke, he clenched both hands into fists at his side and spoke with a bit more anger and force than he had intended, "I don't know, Jasper! Why don't… why don't you tell me?!" He was almost shouting at her, but quickly regretted it when she turned her head, casting a blind glance over her shoulder at him, letting out a barely audible snarl under her breath.

"…What?" she rasped, her tone more flat than her expression suggested.

"I… I don't know why, but… I keep seeing you in my dreams! Every night… _you're_ always there! I—I can't even fuse anymore without some hallucination of you attacking me! I've been _different,_ and I've even hurt my friends! An-And it's all because of _you!"_ Steven yelled at her, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to look at her. He felt tears forming behind his eyelids as frustration rapidly built up within his heart.

Jasper only let out a disdainful snort.

Steven let out an exasperated sigh and calmed himself as he spoke again, "Wh-Why, Jasper? Why do you keep… _bothering me_ like this?!"

"I'm not _making_ you come here." Jasper snarled. "You can just… _leave me here._ I couldn't care less."

Steven grunted in increasing annoyance at the Quartz's perpetual stubbornness. "I—I don't know _how_ to leave!" he pointed out to her, trying to match her hostile tone of voice… and failing. "Wh-What even _is_ this place? And… why am _I_ here? Why are _you_ here?" He winced and took a couple of steps back when Jasper growled much more audibly this time and pushed herself up, turning around to face Steven again. Even with her lack of eyes, Steven saw that she was becoming furious.

"What, did you emerge yesterday?!"she snapped, her tone dripping with hatred. " _This_ is what happens when you're Corrupted!"

"B-But… Amethyst bubbled you! And the Gems told me that Corrupted Gems don't suffer when they're…"

"Well, they're _wrong!_ When you're Corrupted, _this_ is where you go! And this is where you stay!Alone! _Forever!"_ Steven flinched as the Corrupted Quartz leaned in close, getting so close to his face that he feared she might pierce him in the eyes with the spikes on her face. She grabbed the front of his shirt to ensure that he couldn't move away. "And there's nothingto greet you here, nothing to keep you company! _Nothing…_ but _end. Less._ _ **Suffering!"**_

"Jasper, I'm sorry, I—I didn't know!" Steven cried out. He opened his mouth to say something more, when suddenly, he heard something in the distance. He painstakingly twisted his neck to glance over his shoulder, and that's when he caught a glance of something out the corner of his eye that left him feeling anxious. He wasn't entirely sure why. "Jasper, wh—what's… _that?"_

Jasper stood upright on two feet as casually as ever, holding Steven up off of the ground by the front of his shirt off to her side where Steven could get a much more accurate look at whatever it was. He pointed with a trembling hand at the gradually approaching anomaly and Jasper sightlessly followed Steven's fearful gaze and pointing hand. She stared at it for a second, then smirked and started chuckling softly to herself.

"Heh-heh. That's _her."_ Jasper drawled. "Rose Quartz…"

Steven let out a whimper. "Jasper, she—she's coming closer!"

He tumbled to the ground with a grunt when Jasper unexpectedly released him. Her smirk turned into a long, frightening grin.

"What do you want _this time,_ Rose? To fight?" She got no response. "To see me cower? To see me beg for mercy!?" She dropped onto all fours again and viciously dragged her claws across the ground.

"What? N-No, Jasper, I… huh?" Steven let out a startled gasp as the form approached close enough for him to make out its features. He had become so accustomed to answering to "Rose Quartz" whenever he interacted with Jasper that he didn't even consider that she was talking to this… _thing._

It looked like Rose… kind of. Her dress was a torn, shredded mess, her skin was a sickly grey, and her hair was frazzled and chaotic. Her mouth hung agape, showing jagged, yellowed fangs and she didn't seem to have any eyes, just empty black sockets that oozed something black that ran down her cheeks like streams of tears. An ominous black haze filled with dark pink rose petals danced around her demonic form as she glided slowly across the ground in the direction of Steven and Jasper. Her hands were thick and her fingers were curved with gnarled, twisted nails, like claws, their yellowing tips battered and cracking.

Jasper crouched close to the ground, letting out a low growl.

"Jasper…" Steven chimed in, his voice barely over a whisper. "Jasper, she—she's scary. L-Like a ghost. Is… is that… _really_ how you see my mo… uh, Rose Quartz?"

"How else _should_ I see her? It's a fitting appearance," Jasper said. "for a _monster."_

The hole in "Rose's" dress wasn't a five-pointed star with neat edges, but little more than a jagged tear in the fabric, revealing her gemstone and part of her grey stomach. Her gem looked relatively normal despite a deep fissure that ran its length; a number of veiny, black cracks ran from the edge of her gem and extended out across her skin, disappearing beneath her faded dress. Steven whimpered and clenched his shirt in his fingers.

"Come _on,_ Rose Quartz!" Jasper taunted her. "Give me all you've got! I have all the time in the world!"

Steven opened his mouth to say something, but Jasper cut him off with a monstrous roar and began charging the apparition. Steven fearfully reached out towards her, as if that would somehow stop the Corrupted Quartz soldier. He watched as she reared up, one claw outstretched in the air, ready to land a blow. "Rose" stopped in her tracks and, before Jasper could bring her claw down, the apparition brought up her sword. It looked identical to Rose's _real_ sword, but it's colour was darker and duller and the blade was visibly cracked. She ran it straight through Jasper's chest without a word.

Jasper let out a choked cry of pain and she quite literally froze in place.

Steven expected her to disappear in a cloud of red-orange smoke after a few seconds, but… she didn't.

Instead, he noticed black cracks beginning to trace her entire physical form, identical to the one's on "Rose's" stomach. He looked on in horror as her form glitched violently, and her form began slowly, painfully falling apart with crackles of greyish-yellow static as if she'd been hit with a Gem Destabilizer. Before long, her strangled whimpers turned into all-out screams of agony. The destabilization started with her clawed hands and her arms, and the last part to disappear was her head as she finally, mercifully exploded into a cloud of orange smoke.

The boy's eyes went wide with horror when her gemstone fell to the ground in her place… in three shards.

"J—Jasper!" he cried out. Steven was on his feet in an instant and rushed towards her shards, shakily picking them up and cradling them in his palms. Tears began forming in his eyes as he shakily looked up at the warped version of Rose Quartz that towered over him. "How… h-how could you?" He knew this wasn't _really_ his mom, but he couldn't bear to even see a demonic form taking her image shattering another Gem like that.

She stood there, frozen, for a long time, she didn't say a word. Steven wondered if she could.

He put Jasper's broken gem back onto the ground and stood up.

"Well?! Say something!" he furiously demanded.

A few more seconds passed, and suddenly, she began gliding away from him. "Wha… h-hey! Come back!" Steven began running after her, but the closer and closer he got, the faster she seemed to go. His running slowed to a stop as he watched, wide-eyed, as the haze around her thickened. He whispered softly, "Wait…" but it went unheard. As the haze finally faded away, he found that she was nowhere in sight.

He stared after her in silence, before collapsing to his knees, letting out a gloomy sigh as he traced the edge of one of the red streaks on the ground with a finger.

That is, until he hears a sound behind him. The distinct sound of regeneration. Stars entered the boy's eyes as he stood up and turned around, facing where he'd left Jasper's broken gem.

He watched as the three shards levitated into the air, surrounded by a glowing white vortex as the shards came together in the middle of the swirling vortex. With a blinding white flash, the Corrupted Gem collapsed limply to the ground, her gemstone placed on the centre of her face, completely intact. Steven's eyes widened as he looked at her and he hardly hesitated as he ran towards her, eagerly calling out her name.

However, before he got too close, she growled and clawed at him, making him recoil.

"J-Jasper… what happened? Why did you… why did she…?"

"That's just what happens here, _runt!"_ Jasper snapped. She turned away and started towards her tree again on all fours. "I'm alone here, all except for… _them._ The Gems I hate the most." Steven began to wonder if he'd see a warped version of himself there soon. "They attack me, but _I_ can't fight back! I retreat into my gem every. Single! Time! And there's nothing I can do to stop it!" She fell onto her knees and started grabbing at her head, pulling at her hair.

"Well, all you have to do is just… not… fight back?" Steven suggested.

"Heh, as if it were that simple! If I fight back, then I retreat into my gem." Jasper said. "If I _don't,_ then they tear me apart! They draw it out, they make it as long and torturous as possible, until…" She winced as the ground beneath their feet began tremoring violently. Steven stumbled back and nearly lost his balance. Jasper repositioned her footing to avoid falling, until she looked down as the ground right beneath her feet began cracking and breaking apart.

"Jasper, what's going…?" But she didn't have a chance to respond as the ground beneath her shattered entirely. She would've fallen if a turquoise hand, thrice her size, didn't suddenly reach up and latch into her Corrupted form, the Quartz soldier tiny in comparison to it. Steven watched, wide-eyed, as another hand reached up out of the shattering ground; this one was greenish-black. A third one that followed was the same colour as the first with a black 'V'-shaped stripe on its shoulder, matching the one on Jasper's.

Steven whimpered softly as Malachite reached up with her eight huge arms and dragged herself up to the surface, her four teal eyes narrowed viciously as she stared down at Jasper.

" _Ugh…_ Lapis?" Jasper choked out weakly. "Don't…"

Steven only looked on in horror as Malachite stood there, crushing Jasper, one of her component Gems, in one of her hands. He couldn't help but notice there were still water shackles around the wrists of both arms, as well as the six she used as legs. Two water chains wrapped over her shoulders and crossed over her chest in an 'X'-shape. The chains went down and disappeared into the gaping crater in the ground where greenish water sloshed audibly.

" _Jas… per…"_ Malachite hissed. She clenched her fist that held the Quartz so hard that Steven thought she would poof right then and there.

Once Malachite stopped squeezing her, Steven heard Jasper weakly plead, "No… not… _again."_

Either Malachite ignored her or heard Jasper's words, but refused her plea. Her fanged mouth stretched into a thin, sadistic grin and her eyes went wide, her pupils shrinking to manic pinpricks. With little hesitation, she threw Jasper into the air and, summoning Lapis's water wings, she leapt into the air and followed close behind. Once she propelled past the soaring Quartz, she clenched her fist and hit Jasper in the chest, sending her crashing hard to the ground in front of Steven.

He let out a startled yelp and jumped back while Jasper laid motionless on the ground, moaning weakly.

"Jasper! What's… wh-why aren't you fighting back?"

Jasper only laid there, groaning, until they both noticed Malachite, still hovering several hundred yards overhead, summoning Jasper's crash helmet, ironically, atop her head. Jasper flipped onto her side and trembled as she attempted to get up and get out of the Fusion's way, but Malachite was faster. She rolled into a fiery, spinning ball and crashed straight into the Quartz soldier, unfurling and lifting up Jasper's battered, broken form between her two hands.

She lifted Jasper up to eye level.

"You. Are. _Nothing!"_ Malachite screamed at her. Steven winced; her voice sounded _exactly_ like Lapis.

She punctuated her final word by throwing her head forward, helmet still summoned, and poofing Jasper instantaneously.

He looked up as the shards fell from Malachite's grasp, catching all three of them in his palms before they fell. He stared down sadly at them, but he knew she'd be back before long. Then, he looked up at Malachite. She simply stood there, staring down at Steven with her eyes narrowed to teal slits. Her expression was unsettlingly blank.

"Malachite?" Steven whimpered. The Fusion didn't respond, then Steven remembered what Jasper had said when she first laid eyes on her. "Uh… L-Lapis? Are… you in there?"

Again, Malachite was silent. Then she reached forward with a giant turquoise hand.

Panic stabbed into Steven's heart and he scrambled to his feet, ready to run. But Malachite was faster.

Lifting her massive hand into the air, she brought it down hard upon Steven's form, tiny in comparison to her, crushing him beneath it.

It was quick. He didn't even have a chance to scream.

Steven gasped as he awoke in his bed with a start. He laid there, still, for several long seconds, breathing heavily as he stared up at the ceiling. The warped, monstrous version of Rose Quartz and the towering form of Malachite was still vivid in his mind's eye, preventing him from going back to sleep. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, staring around the shadowy bedroom in silence. For a second, he thought he saw something watching him from just outside the window, but it was gone before he could get a good look at it.

 _A fitting appearance… for a monster._ Jasper's words echoed in his ears; Steven shivered.

He sighed as he got up, jumping off of the loft and landing with a bounce on the couch. He crouched atop it like a mischievous cat. He glanced around to find the whole house empty; the Gems had retired into their respective rooms for the night. That was good, because then, no-one would see what he was about to do. He couldn't let her stay there; he couldn't let her to suffer for eternity like that. Steven would never have any peace of mind if he didn't.

He was going to enter to go to the Burning Room and find Jasper's bubble. He was going to release her.


	4. Chapter IV - Reunions

**Spoilers for Beta and Earthlings, as usual. And this is the chapter is the one you've all been waiting for! When Jasper is finally, really released from her stasis bubble! Yay! *throws glowsticks at the ground***

Steven hummed a tune under his breath at he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He hissed as he pulled the bandage on his head, above his left eye, away, revealing a thin scar there.

He winced as he caressed two fingers across the slowly healing injury, his first real "battle wound", even if it came from a Gem that wasn't really _real._ It was no longer bleeding and was beginning to turn a light pinkish-red. It still felt tender to the touch, but it was starting to get better.

He glanced at the removed dressing, a red-brown spot of dried blood in the centre of it, and grimaced as he tossed it away into the trash bin with a disgusted scoff.

He turned on the sink's faucet and began washing his hands, tossing up his hands to sprinkle the clear liquid onto his face. It had been a long couple of days, even though he hadn't been on a single real mission thus far. The cool water felt refreshing and quickly relieved any leftover anxiety and worry; though one thing still lingered at the back of his mind, he decided not to think about it until he really needed to. Connie was supposed to come over soon, he'd deal with it then, when he wasn't completely alone and near defenseless in case things suddenly took a turn for the worst.

Steven tried to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, even a ruthless Gem like Jasper, but he still couldn't be too careful.

He pulled a towel over and began drying off his hands when a knock at the screen door caught his attention. He nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to get there and answer it.

"Hey, Steven!" Connie greeted cheerfully as the boy swung the door open to meet her. "You ready for sword practice today?"

She started to walk in, but Steven stopped her in her tracks. "Actually, the Gems went out on a mission a few minutes ago."

"Aw, really?" Connie said, sounding a bit disappointed. "I was really looking forward to… wait. They went out on a mission and didn't take you with them?"

Steven shrugged. "I told Pearl that I wasn't feeling so hot after… yesterday and all, so she suggested that I stay home and rest." He looked away, then looked back at her again with a mischievous little smirk. "But I actually had something else in mind!"

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"C'mon, I'll show you!"

Steven stepped past her and rushed down the porch steps, Connie following not too far behind. He went around to the side of the porch where they found Lion curled up beneath it, his side rising and falling as he slept soundly. Steven slowed to a much more patient walk, giving Connie a 'shh' gesture as she got closer. They walked over beside the magical animal and stopped, the hybrid boy turning to his friend, speaking in a hushed tone of voice.

"Wait here, I'll be right back."

With that, he sucked in a long intake of breath and held it, before leaping into Lion's fluffy light pink mane. As the boy disappeared, Lion jumped and jerked his head upright, his black eyes wide as he glanced around in surprise. Connie snickered softly under her breath when he turned and gave her an accusatory glare, before resting his head back down on his large forepaws and closed his eyes, intending to return to his slumber.

Meanwhile, Steven, his cheeks puffed up with held breath, stuck his head up above the swaying light pink 'grass' within the magical parallel dimension hidden within the animal's hair. He looked at the island a few yards away in front of him, a pink acacia tree sitting upon it with a number of Rose Quartz's old belongings on and around it. Before he moved towards it, he glanced in a different direction where he saw another, similar hill standing in the thick pink field. Atop it was a large oak tree of the same pink hue.

Steven smiled silently at it, before turning back towards Lion's tree and shuffling through the grass towards it. A little over halfway there, he ducked down beneath the grass again. Lion's eyes snapped open wide as Steven momentarily poked his head out to take another breath of air, disappearing again before Lion had a chance to see him.

Finally reaching the hill, Steven started up it towards the tree, glancing around at the objects scattered about as he did. There was a wooden chest that he had yet to open, an old 'Mr. Universe' shirt hanging from one of the branches, and, floating up near the top of the tree, was a small lilac gem bubble. Steven made a sound of satisfaction as he looked at it and jumped up into the air, gliding steadily through the air in an arc, latching onto the bubble with both hands as he passed by it. As he came back down, he kicked off of the hill with one foot and leapt back into the grass, tumbling out of Lion's mane and crashing to the ground on his chest, the bubble held up over his head to keep it from popping.

He began taking several deep breaths as Connie took the bubble to give him a chance to get back up while Lion sat upright, his black eyes wide again as he stared at Steven in stunned silence.

"What is this?" Connie inquired as Steven got up off of the ground. "A… gem bubble? What was this doing in Lion's mane?"

"Oh, I put it there this morning!" Steven said with a smile.

"Huh. This gem. It looks… familiar." Connie narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized the tiny disembodied gemstone encased within the bubble. "Wait, is that… is—is that…?"

She looked to Steven for confirmation; he simply nodded a couple of times without a word.

"But how… why…I—I thought the Gems weren't going to let you free Jasper!" Connie said, almost shouting.

Steven sighed, grabbing his arm as he looked away, a slightly bitter look in his eyes.

"They won't." he stated. "So… that's why I went into the Burning Room last night, grabbed her bubble, and then stored it in Lion's mane so no-one would notice!" He finished his sentence by grinning slyly at the dark-skinned girl, who only gave him a skeptical glare in return.

"But… I still don't understand. She's _dangerous,_ Steven!"

"Oh, c'mon, we've taken her on before, just the two of us!" Steven coaxed her, his enthusiastic grin suddenly acquiring a nervous edge. "I mean, I'm hoping we won't have to this time, but…"

"Steven."

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… _ugh,_ you're acting weird! Weirder than usual. What aren't you telling me?"

They both fell silent for a long time and Steven's smile suddenly disappeared. With a sigh, he turned away from his friend and idly kicked up some of the sand. Lion sneezed as some of it unintentionally sprinkled onto his nose.

"I—I… had another dream last night." Steven began, his voice low. "Well, not really a dream this time though. I—I saw her again, Connie. Like, I actually _visited_ her in this weird Corruption realm that she's stuck in now. All Jasper ever does there is suffer and fight this… demon/zombie/ghost version of my mom. She gets poofed away, over and over again. But every time, she always comes back, just to fight and disappear and come back… over and over and _over again!"_

Steven scoffed in frustration, kicking up a lot more sand this time in his increasing anger.

 _There's nothing to greet me here. Nothing!_ Jasper's words echoed in his ears. _Except end… less…_ suffering!

Steven grimaced to himself, but quickly shook it off. He turned back to face Connie and looked at the lilac bubble in her hands.

"She–She's _suffering_ in there, Connie! And she'll suffer forever if we don't do something!" Steven stared at his friend with tearful eyes, but she still looked unsure. "Please. I—I can't just leave her like this, and I don't care what the Gems have to say about it!"

"But, Steven, what if she attacks us? What if she attacks the _city?"_

Steven sighed and glanced away, a bit guiltily. "I… I don't think she will. She won't admit it, but… I don't think that's what she wants anymore."

He lifted a hand and gently rested on the bubble's smooth surface as he forced a sad smile down at the gem within it. "Don't worry, it won't be long now. We're going to help you… I promise."

He glanced up to meet Connie's uneasy gaze, before he took the bubble in his own hands and walked out onto the beach with it. Lion lifted his head and watched with Connie as Steven walked away, standing about halfway between the shoreline and the Crystal Temple.

Steven took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he held the bubble out in front of him at arm's length. As much as he _wanted_ to free her, he just couldn't bring himself to pop the bubble. The illusion of Jasper's Corrupted form, scratching his head and nearly ripping out his gemstone, flashed in his mind. The hallucination of the Quartz soldier stabbing Stevonnie through the chest with a sword. He briefly relived Jasper forcing Amethyst to retreat into her gem and nearly trying to shatter the defective Crystal Gem, when she fused with Lapis Lazuli into the monstrous Malachite, when she stabbed Garnet with a Gem Destabilizer in their very first confrontation.

She was a monstrous brute that would do anything to _win,_ no matter what it was, including shattering an innocent Gem or forcing others to fuse with her. Ever since they'd first met, she'd done nothing but torment him and the other Crystal Gems and had tried, on a number of occasions, to shatter _him,_ mistaking him for Rose Quartz.

But, even then, she was just a Gem that was doing what she was made for: fighting, and trying desperately to get vengeance for Pink Diamond. Jasper was far from innocent, but she wasn't _just_ a brute. She had perfectly viable reasons to do what she did, and that meant that she still had a chance to do better, to _be_ better. All they had to do was give her a chance.

Steven inhaled and held his breath again, before giving the bubble a light squeeze. A light _pop!_ signified that the bubble had disappeared, and Steven opened his eyes to see Jasper's gemstone falling lightly to the ground. He reached down and scooped up some of the sand, placing the gem in the middle of a shallow hole as he tossed the sand off to the side. He stared down at her in silence, anxiously awaiting her return.

"Get ready." Steven said without turning to face his two acquaintances. He heard the distinct _shing_ of Connie unsheathing Rose's sword and even heard Lion let out a soft growl. Steven briefly considered summoning his shield, but decided against it for fear of giving the Gem the wrong idea. The only "weapon" he needed was his healing powers, and he lifted his palm and licked it a couple of times as Jasper's gem finally levitated off of the ground, surrounded by a light amber aura.

The boy took a couple of cautious steps back as the monstrous, canine-like silhouette formed from the gem. Steven watched as the glowing white form snarled viciously at him, but before she could even take her physical form, Steven stepped forward and wetly smacked his saliva-coated hand to her gem and held it there, even as her form began to morph and change shape. Lion and Connie could only watch from the sidelines, their eyes going wide with shock.

Steven didn't even think about pulling away until Jasper began taking a humanoid form again, showing him that the healing spit was working.

He stepped back again, watching as Jasper's form glitched and lost its form for a split second, before the bright white light faded completely. The massive Quartz soldier simply stood there, her head hung, before limply collapsing to the sandy ground, prompting a shocked gasp from both of the kids.

"Jasper!" Steven cried out, quickly falling onto his knees at her side as Connie ran up to join him, opting to leave the sword sheathed while Jasper was being passive.

"Is she okay?"

Steven grabbed onto her right arm and lifted it up, looking it over, tears beginning to form in his eyes yet again.

"Oh… it—it didn't work…?" Connie guessed, her voice barely over a whisper.

The Gem's muscular arm was still covered in a splotchy teal pattern with a few darker spikes protruding here and there. Steven cringed at its strange texture as he ran a finger across it. He glanced up at where Connie stood over him, a matching concerned look in her dark brown eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when Jasper abruptly jerked her arm out of Steven's grasp with a weak, muffled groan.

Steven quickly got up and both of the kids started hastily backing away as Jasper moved to finally get up. Connie cautiously reached for the hilt of Rose's sword until Steven rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head at her as a silent gesture not to draw her weapon. She turned to him and asked, barely over a whisper so Jasper didn't hear, "Are you sure?" Steven nodded in response.

They both turned their attention to the Quartz, watching as she trembled, trying to stand up, but over and over again, her weakened legs failed her. Finally, she gave up, deciding to remain in a kneeling position instead. She glanced at the sand beneath her for a moment and glanced up at the Crystal Temple in front of her, staring at it in silence for a long time. Steven and Connie exchanged confused glances, before the boy hesitantly started towards Jasper despite Connie's attempts to stop him.

"Jasper…?"

She let out a raspy gasp and jumped slightly, whipping her head around to look at where Steven stood, staring at her in concern. Her left golden eye was wide with surprise at first, before it narrowed bitterly as soon as she recognized him. The right half of her face was completely teal with residual Corruption and she didn't even have her right eye anymore. In its place was that hideous dark green spike protruding from her face.

"Ah, I guess I should've known." she rasped, trailing off with a bitter chuckle. "Hm. And I see you brought your _pet_ with you as well."

" _What?!"_ Connie shouted.

"Connie, no!" But the offended human didn't listen as she unsheathed her blade and strode up beside Steven, staring Jasper down as she pointed the sword in the half-Corrupted Gem's direction.

"You take that back!" Connie warned. "Unless you want to see how much damage this 'pet' can do…"

"Connie…"

"Gladly." Jasper chuckled again as she pushed herself upright, her gem glowing simultaneously as she attempted to summon her crash helmet. However, something strange happened. Her weapon summoned successfully on the first try… before it began glitching and faltering and vanished entirely as Jasper fell back to the ground, her legs failing her yet again. "What?! Wh-What happened?!" She grabbed her head, her eye wide with shock as she stared at the ground.

"It's… because you're half-Corrupted still." Steven explained.

"What…?"

"Sorry, my healing powers are a little… limited when it comes to Corruption."

"What're…? You… _you_ healed me?!" Jasper said, beginning to sound a bit manic. " _Why?!_ After all I've done… _why_ would you go out your way to save someone… like _me?!"_

The kids nervously exchanged glances again as Connie lowered the sword, its blade aiming at the ground.

" _Agh!_ Answer me!" Jasper growled, slamming her fists to the ground. She breathed heavily as she looked down at her hands: her right arm was half-covered with a green splotchy pattern and her fingers were thick and hard, gnarled into huge claws. Her left hand, however, still retained its yellow-orange hue, other than a few tiny insignificant spots here and there. At least her fingers were still… _fingers,_ instead of the claws of an animal. "Unless, of course… I already know the answer."

Steven tensed. "What?"

Jasper chuckled bitterly as she turned to face the kids. "You want me to give up. You want me get down on my knees… and beg to join your little band of—of _rejects_ because I know that…"–her tone acquired a sad air to it–"…Homeworld won't take me. Not like _this."_ She snarled as she tried once again to stand up, raising her voice to a more audible tone yet again. "Well… you can forget it, because it's never. Going. To happen! I would rather let myself be shattereda thousand times over before I _ever_ pledge allegiance to Rose Quartz and her group of failures!"

" _No!_ Th-That's not…"

Jasper slammed one of her fists to the ground with a frustrated growl. "Then _what?!_ There's got to be something! There's no way… there's just… _no way_ you'd go out of your way to help me unless… you thought it might benefit _you_ somehow."

"I—I don't understand. Nobody deserves a fate like that… not even you. Why would I just stand by and let you suffer if I knew I could use my healing powers to help?"

" _You're_ the one who doesn't understand! I've failed my purpose, I've failed my Diamond, I've failed _everyone!_ I have no use here anymore!"

"But… that's not how it works here. Not on Earth." Connie offered, forcing a kind smile at the Quartz. She flinched when the Gem shot her a savage glare from beneath her unkempt blonde bangs, snarling under her breath.

"Then just—just put me back in the bubble already!" Jasper snarled, leaning down with her face close to the sand. "If I'm going to spend the rest of eternity stuck on this worthless rock then at least I can spend it alone in my gem… away from these _meatbags_ and… _Crystal Gems…"_

"I… I'm not going to do that, Jasper." Steven said, his voice soft and a bit uneasy.

Jasper raked her clawed hand through the sand. "Why… _not?!_ It's not like I have anywhere else to go!"

Steven took a couple of steps towards her again, the Gem peering at him from between her fingers as she covered her face with both hands. "Well, sure you do! There are places all over the Earth if you don't like it here! Come on, just—just give it a chance. We can show you!" He hesitantly stepped within arm's length of her and offered his hand out to her. She stared at it in silence for a moment, before scowling and swiping at his hand with her claws, making the boy recoil back.

"Like I want to see _more_ of what these meatbags have done to Homeworld's… _Pink Diamond's_ colony than I already have!" Jasper was cut off with a soft pained whimper and she put her hands down, staring in horror as the Corruption began crawling across her left arm again. She quickly blinked away tears she felt forming in her eye before the kids noticed. "I told you before… I only came back to finish off _Rose Quartz!_ And now, I can't even do _that!"_

She let out a pained cry, grabbing her rapidly Corrupting arm and squeezing it tight, letting her nails dig into her orange skin as if it would somehow stop the Corruption in its tracks. She keeled over, grimacing, her eyes squeezed shut. Connie gripped the hilt of her sword tight, watching in horror as Steven's healing was rapidly reversed right in front of their eyes. Steven quickly licked his palm again and offered it to her.

"Jasper, don't worry… I—I can help!"

Jasper seemed to ignore his statement, looking up at him with a tears in her eye that she didn't even bother wiping away. "I'm _stuck_ here. I'll never see my Homeworld again, I'll never be accepted by _anyone_ again! And it's all. Your! _Fault!"_ She was practically screaming as she futilely lunged in Steven's direction, forcing him to jump back again to avoid her swiping clawed hands. She growled viciously, but eventually gave up on trying to attack him.

Tears were streaming from Steven's eyes as he practically begged to the rapidly Corrupting Gem. "Jasper, _please!_ I-I'm sorry that all of this is happened to you! I'm sorry that you're suffering and that you've lost so much because of me and my mom! But, _please,_ give me a chance to make it all up to you! Give me a chance to help you make it better!"

" _Never! You're_ the reason I'm on this worthless hunk of rock! _You're_ the reason I Corrupted in the first place! _You_ are the reason I've lost _everything!"_ Jasper shouted, looking up at Steven to reveal that her right eye had been replaced with a spike as well now. "And for _that_ … _**I will never forgive you!"**_ Her words turned to screams of agony as she curled up into a ball on the sand, desperately clawing at her head as if she could just claw the Corruption out.

Steven shakily stepped closer, reaching forward to use his healing spit on her again, but in a flash, she jerked upright again and lashed out at him, her screams turned to enraged, animalistic roars and growls. She managed to tear away part of Steven's shirt and knock him back a bit, but didn't actually injure him. He briefly tugged at the torn remnants of his shirt, before looking up at the Corrupted Gem with tearful, desperate eyes.

"J-Jasper…"

In response, she roared once more and charged straight at him, her head bowed in an attempt to impale him on her huge dark green horns. He hastily dodged her attack and watched in shocked silence as she charged straight past him. She ignored Lion and she ignored Connie, she just… ran, eventually charging into the ocean until she was completely submerged beneath the waters, not appearing to have any real aim in her actions. Steven, meanwhile, fell to his knees as he stared after her, tears darkening the sand beneath him. He let out a barely audible squeak as he hung his head, feeling defeated and guilty.

Her enraged, grief-stricken words echoed in his ears relentlessly, but at this point, there was only one thing left to say.

"I'm… sorry."

* * *

" _Ugh,_ I can't _believe_ this!"

Steven and Connie sat on the couch in the Crystal Temple, looking up wearily at Pearl who was anxiously pacing back and forth in front of them.

"We told you _not_ to release her, that she was too dangerous to be set free like this! But you didn't listen, and look where we are now!"

The kids exchanged nervous glances as Pearl shot an accusatory glare Steven's way, making him flinch. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

The kids continued to sit in silence, Steven opening and closing his mouth a couple of times. The only time he actually said anything, he clumsily stumbled over his words in a shaky, incoherent mess.

"Pearl," Connie chimed in. "please, don't blame him. I… I could've done something but I—I… didn't. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be." Pearl dismissed. She turned her attention to Steven again, who didn't look at her. She winced when she noticed the light glinting off of tears in his eyes. "I… Steven, look. I understand that you had good intentions by releasing her, but, Gems like Jasper, they're just too… too…" She trailed off, searching for the words to say, but Steven spoke up, beating her to the punch.

"There's nothing wrong with her!" he shouted defiantly. "She's not that bad! Really! She's just another Gem that's scared, an-and alone, and… sad. She doesn't want to admit it, but I know…"

"Steven," Pearl stepped forward and rested a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "even if that _is_ the case, Jasper is far too self-centred and proud of herself to admit it! She'd probably shatter all of us _long_ before we ever even got _close_ to getting her to crack!" Steven looked at the floor, remembering how upset, how scared, how _desperate_ Jasper looked out on the beach. Pearl let out an exasperated sigh. "And that's _not_ a risk that I'm willing to take! And it shouldn't be one _you're_ willing to take either."

Steven threw a hand frustratedly to his forehead, letting out an explosive sigh of his own. "Well, what do you expect to do with her then? Just… just bubble her away again and forget it ever happened?!"

"That's all we _can_ do!"

"But… we _can't!_ We can't just imprison her again! Then she'll just suffer for eternity because _you're_ not willing to give her a chance!"

"But Gems don't suffer in bubbles, they…"

" _You don't know that!"_ Steven shouted, practically screaming at the Gem. Connie rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, prompting him to pause and take a few deep breaths before he continued speaking, _"_ After we accidentally poofed you back in the Cloud Arena, I bubbled you and then unbubbled you again so that you would reform faster! But did being bubbled feel any different than normal?"

Pearl said nothing at first.

"Well? Did it?!"

 _"Ugh…_ well, how should _I_ know? It was only for a second, not near long enough for any real observation!"

"But what was it like? Even for just a moment, what did it _feel_ like?"

"I... don't know! I—I _can't_ know! When a Gem is bubbled, they're in stasis! They can't think, they can't feel, they—they don't even know they _exist!_ Whether it was for a second or a century, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference!"

"But that's not how it was for Jasper!" Steven paused to let out a sigh, his voice becoming solemn again when he continued. "She was in that bubble for weeks! She didn't _know_ she was in a bubble, she just knew that she was stuck inside her own Corrupted mind. She suffered in there, Pearl! For _weeks on end!_ It doesn't matter what Jasper did in the past… how can you just—just turn her away like this? She isn't our enemy anymore! She's just another Gem that needs our help!"

Pearl stumbled over her words for a moment as she tried to think of a viable response, before finally settling on, "But… that doesn't matter anymore. You both saw her, it's _too late_ for her now! She's Corrupted again, and thus, a danger to us and to the whole city if we don't capture her as soon as possible!"

"She didn't go into the city." Connie chimed in. "She… actually went into the ocean again. Like back when she was rounding up those Corruptions?"

Pearl opened her mouth to say something, looking surprised, but Steven spoke up first, seemingly ignoring his friend's words for the moment. "But… what if I can do for her like I did for Centipeetle?"

"What do you mean?" Connie asked.

"I tried to heal _her_ Corruption a while back. It didn't work for long, but I managed to help her retain some of her old memories… kind of… by returning her to her old spaceship where the rest of her crew is. They're Corrupted too, but… at least they're together now."

"Aw, that's so sweet." Connie said.

"But Jasper _already_ has it out for us. And everyone and every _thing_ on this planet, it won't be easy!" Pearl stated matter-of-factly.

"Ugh, but I have to _try!"_ Steven retorted, abruptly jumping up. "I don't want her to suffer anymore, Pearl. Even if she is a bad Gem, _nobody_ deserves that fate!" He fiercely wiped away tears from his eyes as he looked up pleadingly at Pearl, the pale Gem still looking decidedly unsure. "Please, Pearl… even if you don't trust _her…_ you trust _me,_ don't you?"

Pearl bit her tongue and looked away. The obvious answer was 'yes', of course, but when it came to a matter like this one, she wasn't entirely sure. No-one could deny that Steven's intentions were always good ones, no matter the outcome, but he could be a little short-sighted at times. If Jasper hurt anyone, especially Steven, then Pearl didn't know if she would ever be able to forgive herself. She was pulled from her thoughts as the Warp Pad activated, leaving Garnet standing upon it.

"Oh, Garnet! You're back!" Pearl was quick to take that opportunity to excuse herself from the discussion, at least temporarily. She ran up to meet the Fusion. "How did it go? Did you find Jasper?"

"No." the Fusion said stoically. She adjusted her visor as she spoke, "I saw, with my future vision, that we would find her back in the Beta Kindergarten, but she wasn't there when I showed up."

"Oh, heh, well, she probably just hasn't gotten there yet." Pearl said, becoming increasingly anxious.

"Negative. She wasn't there now, she wasn't there before, and she won't be there later either."

"Wh-What? But… how can you know…?" Pearl was cut off as Garnet rested a hand on her thin shoulder, prompting a soft gasp from the Gem.

"I _know,_ Pearl." Garnet assured her. "It seems that Jasper has somehow managed to… _change_ the future so that even _I_ cannot see the outcome."

Pearl's eyes went wide and Steven reflected her thoughts from afar, jumping up with a shocked, "What?!"

"No," Pearl pulled at her peach hair anxiously. "no, that can't be true. She's still out there somewhere! She just _has_ to be!"

"Well, of course she is. But there are thousands of places on this Earth that she could have gone. We could spend _months_ trying to find her."

"But she couldn't have gone far! Corrupted Gems can't use the Warp Pads, so…"

"Unless," Garnet cut in. "someone activated it for her."

"B-But who would…?"

"I don't know. There isn't even any guarantee that that's the case." The red Fusion brushed past Pearl and strode over to where the kids were waiting on the couch. "Steven, Connie, where was the last place you remember seeing Jasper go?"

The kids exchanged glances and Steven chose to speak up this time, "Just… into the ocean. I—I don't know if she was actually going anywhere specific except… the ocean."

Garnet sighed in frustration and adjusted her visor momentarily, before looking back at Steven at resting a hand on his shoulder. "Well, for now, I think you should go to bed." She briefly cast a glance out the window, where the Sun was gradually sinking beneath the horizon. "It's been a long day for both of you. You need your rest."

"Aw, c'mon! It's not even dark yet!" Steven whined.

"Steven, just trust me on this one. Okay?" And, with that, she stood upright and headed out the front door. Pearl and the kids watched in silence as Garnet walked to the shore, before leaping into the air and diving beneath the flowing waters several yards out. There was a small splash, and then there was nothing.

"So… what do we do now?" Connie asked.

"I dunno." Steven admitted.

"Well, Garnet told you to sleep. So… maybe you can do that for now?"

Steven shrugged. "Well, I can usually trust Garnet on these sorts of things." With that proclamation, he threw his legs up onto the couch and flipped onto his opposite side so that he faced the back of the couch. He writhed momentarily to find a more comfortable position, before falling still, partially curled into a ball. He opened his mouth wide in a yawn as he said, "Good night, Connie."

"Oh, uh… okay, um… good–good night, Steven."

A few minutes passed as Steven lied there, eyes closed, trying to give into the embrace of unconsciousness. Before long, he had drifted off into a deep slumber.

When Steven opened his eyes again, he was no longer looking through his own eyes. Or anyone's for that matter.

He was completely blind as he temporarily took refuge in a brand-new body. It was much larger and bulkier than he was, with a similar build to that of the average Quartz soldier. He had a long, dirty, badly unkempt mane that stretched from a few bangs hanging over his forehead to his lower back, where it extended into a fluffy doglike tail. His mouth was hanging open, letting out loud, raspy gasps of breath. He was running, charging rather aimlessly like an animal.

Every single time his feet hit the ground, it made a deep, slamming sound against the terrain, signifying that his host weighed a lot. His chest heaved, but he quickly realized that the rapid panting did no good for him. It felt like he could choose to breathe, or not, and it wouldn't make a single difference either way.

 _Am I… in a Gem?_ his thoughts suggested.

Despite his perpetual blindness, he couldn't help but notice how every other sense was significantly heightened.

He could feel every footfall, every blade of grass that was smashed and every tiny rock that he stepped on as he went, but every last one of them went unnoticed by the sprinting creature. Though breathing in through his nose proved futile, suggesting that this thing didn't have one, he could still smell everything… through his mouth, as if the tastes of the air were translated into scents. In fact, he could smell even better than he could in his half-human organic form; he could smell things that he didn't even know existed! He could hear everything too, despite seeming to lack any visible ears like most Gems did. He could probably hear a butterfly's wing beat if one got close enough.

To put it lightly, he completely lacked sight… but every other sense was strengthened so much that it may as well not have mattered.

As he galloped uncontrollably in a random direction, he couldn't help but notice the telltale sounds around him; nearby, he could hear men and women crying out in horror and disgust or shouting hostile slurs at the monstrous animal. He heard a number of higher-pitched shrieks and sobs from terrified young children. The creature's body suddenly felt hot and the all too familiar sensation of intense anxiety stabbed into her heart. He felt her massive claws dig deep into the dirt as she abruptly skidded to a stop when her thick skin felt the sharp burn of rocks being pelted against it.

She whipped around and faced her assailants, snarling softly as tiny, painful projectiles continued to pelt her in the face. She opened her fanged maw wide in a loud, monstrous roar, one that had become familiar to Steven as of now, but it was cut off with a startled, pained growl of sorts when another, somewhat heavier projectile hit her square in the face. Steven heard a telltale cracking sound that suddenly made the Corrupted Gem stumble back and let out a series of agonized snarls and roars, but the relentless pelting continued regardless.

He couldn't see who or what was attacking her, but he wanted desperately to yell at them to stop. _Now._

 _Her—Her gem!_ Steven's thoughts cried out.

Even though he couldn't see it, he could sense it. A long, thin crack that ran from the upper point to halfway down, crossing against the middle of the two upper facets.

Her gemstone was where her nose otherwise would be.

On several occasions, he felt her entire form beginning to falter uncontrollably. With every slight hit of the rocks, her form started falling apart. Finally, with a prolonged roar of agony, Jasper forced herself back up onto all fours and immediately began charging in the opposite direction until she could no longer feel their attacks. Steven could hear the commotion of a town or small city nearby, but in the midst of Jasper's ordeal, he hardly noticed it.

Her entire physical form was exploding with excruciating pain, as if her entire being was being torn apart at the seams. The only real relief she got from it was the occasional distortion and falter of her physical form, but as soon as it was restored, the pain immediately came rushing back in full force. Most sounds were blocked out by an awful scraping sound, as if Jasper's consciousness were attempting to claw its way out by force, and combined with that was what sounded like hundreds of voices screaming in relentless agony. They sounded like the screams of the damned. Jasper roared in a combination of agony and a desperation to block out the screams, but no matter how loud she was, it seemed the screams only went louder.

 _This is what greets you here! End. Less. Suffering!_

Steven wanted desperately to wake up now. He wanted to put his hands up to his ears and block out the sounds, to escape the Hellish existence once and for all that was Jasper's horrifically Corrupted, warped consciousness. On top of that, she was cracked now, and he wondered if they'd be able to get to her in time before she shattered altogether.

 _End._

He began to wonder if she'd prefer that fate over this one.

 _Less._

At this point, he was wishing that something would happen, like retreating into her gemstone or something, to just give her a bit of pause. But there was no such relief from this.

 _ **Suffering!**_

Steven cried out inwardly. _Please… make it stop!_

It seemed like an eternity trapped in the midst of her pain before Jasper stopped abruptly, lifting her head and examining the scent in the air.

It was strange, a dusty, sandy sort of scent. It was strangely familiar to Steven, but he just couldn't place it.

For a moment, he thought she'd returned to the beach, but didn't sense any seawater or the sound of the tide coming in.

With a soft snarl, Jasper started running again, in a new direction this time, before beginning to slow down as she pushed herself up against a tall, smooth wall until an empty space interrupted it. It was a hole; she took a moment to turn and trace its edges with her clawed forepaw, before moving onto the next one. She did this with several others, the internal screaming and the agony of her cracked gem seemingly subsiding temporarily as she did so. It didn't disappear entirely, but it faded enough to be easily ignored. It may as well have been gone for the time.

Before long, Jasper reared up, pushing both forepaws against the smooth sandstone wall, her head tilted back. With a good jump, she latched her claws onto the edge of another, much larger hole. Its edge was smooth and a bit slick, hard for her to latch her claws into. Regardless, she recognized it in an instant as she climbed into the massive Quartz exit hole and made her way to the very back of it, eventually reaching a large, misshapen hollow there.

Like the rest of the exit hole, its edges had been superheated into solid _glass._

She lifted a claw and briefly scraped them against the glassy walls of the exit hole, but walking in a circle a couple of times and curling up into a ball, her fluffy blonde tail wrapped around her huge form. Steven felt her physical form falter one last time as she laid there and forced herself to relax, even in the midst of the screaming and the indescribable pain. She just ignored what would drive anyone else to madness; she'd done it for thousands of years now, after all.

The dizzying blackness and the painful consciousness swirled away as Jasper fell into her own slumber, Steven jerking upright, suddenly wide awake, at the same time.

"Jasper!" he thoughtlessly cried out. He was breathing heavily again, scanning his dark surroundings. Night had since fallen and someone had put him to bed. Connie was nowhere in sight, presumably having headed home for the night at some point. It disappointed Steven a bit; he had wanted her to stay over for the night, but he shrugged it off. Maybe next time. He had more important things to think about right now.

He let out a soft sigh as he threw off the covers and headed downstairs. He could still hear those awful sounds echoing in his ears, as if they'd followed him from Jasper's consciousness. He could still feel a distant pain as if he were being torn apart from the inside-out; it began to feel vivid enough that he stopped at the bottom of the stairs and checked his gem for any damage. There was nothing, it was as smooth and shiny as ever, not a crack or scratch to be seen.

With a sigh, Steven stepped into the kitchen where his phone laid on the counter, hooked up to a wall charger. He turned it on to check the battery percentage, before removing it from the cord and accessing the device's photo gallery. He had a number of camera photos of himself, Connie, the Gems; he idly flipped through all of them until he reached the series of photos he'd taken on Connie's first mission in the frozen North. There were a number of photos of himself, Connie, and Pearl posing for a selfie that he chuckled softly to himself about, until he reached one that depicted the two huge Corrupted Quartzes.

One was a reddish-brown with a strange cobblestone-like pattern on her skin, three spikes protruding from where her eyes once were. Her light brown gemstone, an intricate pattern on its face, was placed on her chest, surrounded by a thick, tannish white mane.

The Corruption to the left of her looked similar. Well, in body shape at least. Her skin was a light teal with darker rings that had pink splotches of colour in their centres. She only had two spikes, one was o a dark blue-green colour, the other was the same with a couple of lighter pink rings near the tip. Her gemstone, also on her chest, matched the wild colour scheme of her skin and the splotchy, complicated teal and pink pattern upon it.

He stared at the spotted Corruption for a long time, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at her.

 _Come on! We can win this, if we stay… together!_

Steven grimaced as the memory flashed through his mind; Jasper and the Corrupted Gem had defused in mid-air after Smokey Quartz launched them into the air with their yo-yo's. The banded Quartz tried in desperation to force the Corruption back into the Fusion, to no avail. Finally, they both came crashing back to the ground, the Corruption smashing Jasper beneath her weight before scrambling up again and fearfully galloping away, leaving Jasper to face her inevitable fate of Corruption.

Steven squeezed the phone in his shaking hand, hardly noticing the tears beginning to stream from his eyes and drip onto the phone's screen. The sound of the front door opening and closing went unheard as well.

"Steven?"

"Ah, Jasper!" Steven cried out, nearly dropping his phone. He looked up, his eyes wide and frantic, to see Garnet patiently walking towards him. He let out a heavy, relieved sigh as he connected his phone again and placed it back onto the counter. "Oh… h-hey, Garnet. Did you find anything out there?"

"That's what I should be asking you."

Steven's eyes went wide as she bent down to his height in front of him, silently awaiting his response. "I… you—you knew?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" She ran a finger across the rim of her visor as she spoke.

"Well, if Jasper changed the future…?"

"It was always a possibility, but I didn't want to disclose the truth to Pearl. Not yet, anyway."

Steven smiled at her, before it abruptly disappeared as he began to explain. "I saw Jasper. I—I was in her body, actually. She was attacked an-and then… her—her gem was cracked."

Garnet's eyes went wide beneath her visor when she heard those words.

"I—I… I'm worried about her, Garnet. Like really, _really_ worried about her. Wh-What if she… what if she's…?"

"She won't be, Steven, I can promise you that." Garnet reassured him.

"She—She's hurt, Garnet. She's alone and she's scared an-and… she's in pain. She went to the Kindergarten again, but… I don't know if she's staying there or not."

"More than likely. Most Corrupted Gems always return to what they recognize as "home", if that's still possible, or the place that means the most of them. It's the only real semblance they still have of their past life, prior to being Corrupted. It grounds them, it stabilizes them, at least until they're put in a bubble. The Beta Kindergarten isn't Jasper's home,but it's her birthplace, so that's the closest thing to "home" she has here on Earth. I can almost guarantee you that she's still going to be there."

Steven's expression finally lit up and stars entered his eyes. "Really? So… can we go there?"

"Not right now, Steven," Garnet said, smiling slightly. "It's almost three o'clock in the morning."

"Oh, right. Well, I—I guess I'd better get some sleep so my healing powers are working at full capacity in the morning!"

He hardly hesitated to run back up to his loft, crawling back into his bed and closing his eyes, immediately trying to return to his slumber. Garnet looked on in silent amusement, chuckling softly, before walking away and activating the Temple Door, disappearing into her respective room. Before she departed, however, she spoke up in Steven's direction, her voice barely over a whisper in the silence of the night, "Good night, Steven. I love you."


	5. Chapter V - Rendezvous

**Finally got around to revising this one... and the three chapters before it. Spoilers for Beta and Earthlings. Surprise, surprise. [/sarcasm** **]**

" _Steven!"_

 _The boy in question was on his knees, cradling something in his hands that he held close to his chest. He was shaking uncontrollably, his chest heaving with rapid, anxious gasps. Tears streamed down in endless torrents down his cheeks. It was only when the voice called his name a second time that he choked out a weak, trembling response. "Go… g-go away…"_

" _Steven!"  
_

" _N-No… go—go away… I—I don't want to see you anymore…"_ **  
**

" _St-Steven…?! Wake up!"_

 _Steven shook harder, squeezing his hands closed as he pushed them against his chest. He breathed harder, trying and failing to suppress the tears that continued streaming from his eyes. He tried to block out the sounds of the voices, but it was no use, they only became louder in desperation to break through to him until, finally, the young half-Gem boy snapped altogether. He stood up on staggering legs that struggled to support his weight._

 _He cupped one hand at his side and clenched the other tightly into a fist, digging his nails into his soft palm._

" _I—I said…" Steven paused for a second, and when he spoke again, he was practically screaming. **"get away from me!"**_

 _He whipped around, a pink fire fuelled by his rage that matched the blinding glow from his gemstone engulfing his fist. He swung it forward, but the instant his fist slammed into its target with a sickening crack, a flash of white blinded him. For a split second, there was nothing and, as the light gradually began to fade, the dark scenery of the Beta Kindergarten swirled dizzyingly away and Steven lost his footing as the world fell out from beneath him._

 _He thrashed his arms and legs in a futile attempt to keep himself from plummeting into the dizzying blackness that awaited him below, clenching his eyes shut as he landed upon something large and soft._

The landing was surprisingly gentle and he suddenly found his body in the embrace of a blanket that kept him warm. He writhed momentarily until he felt two thin hands latch onto his shoulders, pulling him upright and shaking him violently. In the midst of the ordeal, he weakly blinked his eyes open to find himself face-to-face with a familiar pale Gem, a smooth oval cabochon placed upon her forehead. She shouted his name several times over, too distracted by her panic to notice the boy staring at her, eyes wide and confused.

"Maybe you should slap him!" another voice that sounded significantly younger chimed in from afar.

Steven gasped and quickly used his own hands to pull Pearl's off of his arms, sending him falling back onto his bed again.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Steven reassured them, holding up his hands in surrender. He waited for a few seconds, waiting silently for the Gem's response. He reached up to rub his vision clear as he continued, "Hey, wh-what's going… huh?" Steven winced when he felt that his eyes and cheeks were soaked with fresh tears, the salty liquid coming away on his hand. He stared at it in surprise as Pearl leaned forward, a concerned look in her eyes as she used her own thin fingers to brush his tears away.

She said something, but Steven didn't hear it. He was too occupied with the uncharacteristic pang of anger he felt when he looked at her, making him instinctively pull away from her touch, but she wasn't letting him go so easily. He didn't understand where this feeling was coming from, so occupied with thinking it over that he didn't notice Pearl had stopped touching his face and was now sitting on the side of his bed.

"Are… are you okay, Steven?" she asked, her voice low.

Steven looked up at her with wide eyes, then looked away with a soft, frustrated groan. She looked concerned as she stared down at him, almost scared, so Steven decided that it was best not to bring up the fact right now and went for the obvious question instead.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Really! It's just… what—what happened to me last night?" He didn't know whether he was lying or not.

He looked back up at Pearl as she turned away, exchanging glances with Garnet and Amethyst, both of which stood downstairs. Amethyst turned away silently with an indifferent shrug, and Garnet didn't say anything one way or another. Pearl let out a sigh and turned to face Steven again, forcing a smile down at him that disappeared as soon as he evaded her light blue gaze a second time.

"Look, we were… we were going to let you sleep in until Connie came over later so that all five of us could go to the Kindergarten together." Pearl paused for a moment. "But—But, well, I… you…" Pearl trailed off with a sigh, glancing at the floor as she did so, putting a frustrated hand to her face, covering one of her eyes. She tilted her head up slightly, looking at her fellow Gems in a silent request for assistance.

"You started crying. Like, _really_ hard, and you were saying something in your sleep." Amethyst continued.

"We didn't know what to do, so Pearl decided to go up and check on you." Garnet added.

Pearl hesitated for a moment, before deciding to continue the story herself. "That—That's when you started… screaming. You were telling me or—or someone to—to go away an-and… you kept screaming her name. Over a-and over again…" Pearl trailed off as tears formed in her eyes, covering her mouth as she turned away from the boy's wide-eyed, unsettled stare. Steven sat there in silence for a second or two; he wanted to ask them, but he didn't know if he'd like the answer.

"Who? Wh-Who… was it…?"

He saw the Gems exchange glances again. All three of them looked unsure of themselves. Becoming slightly frustrated, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and sat upright beside Pearl, glaring bitterly at all three of the Gems as he demanded, " _Who?!"_ He slammed a fist noiselessly to the bed's soft mattress to punctuate his statement. Again, the Gems were silent for several long seconds, before Garnet finally spoke up to answer his question.

"Jasper. You were calling out for… Jasper." she said, a bit hesitantly.

Steven's eyes went wide, but then again, he was hardly all that surprised. Pearl said something, but it faded into the background as Steven lost himself, finding bits and pieces of the dream's blurred, indistinct memory began to replay in his mind.

It was dark. They were in the Beta Kindergarten. Steven was on the ground, on his knees, cradling something in his hands that he held close to his chest; the dim moonlight glinted weakly across the jagged, battered surfaces of the orange and red gem shards he held. He heard the sounds of footsteps rushing towards him, the sound of the Gems' voices calling out for him, their tones thick with fear and concern. Regardless, he wouldn't listen. The boy had been overwhelmed with a mixture of unadulterated rage and rapidly building grief that he could hardly think straight.

He could only scream furiously for them to go away and that he never wanted to see them again… he even told them that he hated them. He was angry with the Gems, furious, to the point he tried to attack them until he was thrown unpleasantly back into the waking world, the emotions he'd felt in that dream still lingering heavy on his heart but the memories fading before he could even decipher them.

"S-Steven?"

The boy in question gasped softly as he looked up at Pearl, who only stared down at him, a worried look in her blue eyes. As he looked up at her, tears began to form in his dark eyes as the frustration and rage in his heart was suddenly replaced with increasing guilt and emotional hurt. He hardly thought as he threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around Pearl's waist as he began crying against her. She was caught off-guard for a moment, before she gladly returned the gentle embrace.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Pearl! I—I didn't… I didn't mean…"

"Shh." the Gem interrupted, hugging him a bit more firmly. "It's okay, Steven. You didn't mean anything by it."

"But I—I thought… I—I thought that you… you sh-sha…" Steven quickly silenced himself, opting not to mention that part. At least not yet.

The majority of his nightmare was fuzzy and hard to distinguish, all except for that final, vivid moment when he was on the brink between slumber and the waking world. However, he still knew the truth of what occurred in that dream as clearly as ever, even if he'd never witnessed it. As much as he wanted to deny that as a valid possibility, that his mind would ever conjure up the Crystal Gems doing such a heinous thing, even to an enemy Gem, he still knew.

Steven had been attacked. As per usual, the Gems fought back. They were trying to protect him… but they had shattered Jasper in the process.

He felt a hand rest gently on his upper back. He remained like that for a few seconds longer, before finally pulling away from Pearl and sitting atop his bed, his knees tucked underneath him.

Steven stared down at the mattress, half covered with the blanket that was nearly on the floor now. He thought over his next decision for a second before looking up at where the three Gems stood over him, all of them silent as they waited for him to do or say something. Steven glanced away for another second, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart and his slightly trembling arms and hands.

"Guys? Can… I ask you something?" he asked, looking up at them with wide eyes.

"Of course, Steven." Pearl said, smiling down at him.

"Yeah! Spill the beans, man!" Amethyst added with a playful laugh.

But Steven didn't find it funny. He avoided all of their gazes for a few seconds, wondering inwardly what the best way to say it would be.

"W-Would you…" Steven trailed off for a moment. He closed his eyes as he felt tears burning in them and spoke up again, almost shouting, "Would you shatter another Gem?!"

All three of them became tense, Pearl letting out a startled gasp, her eyes going wide with disbelief. She looked around, a bit worriedly, before looking back down at Steven, forcing an uneasy smile at the boy. "Of course not, Steven. The Crystal Gems _never_ shatter an enemy to win their battles, poofing and bubbling them away has always proved sufficient enough. Wh–What ever made you think…?"

"No!" Steven interrupted. "I don't mean shattering to win your fights!I mean…" He hesitated for a second. "…I–I mean, shattering to _protect me!"_

Silence reigned over the four of them yet again, Pearl looking away from Steven's hard glare with a whimper as she lifted a hand and tearfully covered her mouth. Steven's heart went out to her, he never liked seeing the Gems upset like this… but he couldn't help but wonder what she was trying to hide from him. Garnet and Amethyst exchanged silent glances for a moment, before the former finally decided to speak up in her normal, stoic tone of voice that seemed to waver only slightly.

"We… do whatever we have to do, Steven."

"Wha…? In-Including _shattering_ another Gem and destroying them forever?!" Steven retorted.

Pearl, recovering slightly, looked down at Amethyst in a silent request for help. All the Quartz did was shrug and say, "I've got nothin', P."

Pearl let out an agitated groan in response, but decided not to let her annoyance at Amethyst bother her.

"Well?" Steven asked, his tone uncharacteristically flat and cold. "Is _that_ how it is?!"

"S-Steven, I…" Pearl began, but Steven cut her off.

"No! If shattering a Gem is what it takes to protect me,then… th-then…" Steven's agitated shouting trailed off, but before any of the Gems could speak up again, he softly finished his sentence, his frustrated tone replaced with a more solemn one. "Then… I don't think I want to be saved at all."

Pearl's eyes went wide in shock. "Steven!"

"Not if it means a Gem will die because of it!"

"What is this about, Steven?" Garnet asked calmly.

Steven was silent for about ten seconds as he wondered whether to tell them or not. He sighed and said, his voice still low, "My—My dream last night. Jasper was there, an-and… you guys were there too." Tears began to form in his eyes. "You—You all… sh-shattered her."

"Shattered…" Pearl echoed. She looked away for a second, then looked back at Steven and continued, "Steven… we would—we would _never_ do something like that unless it was a last resort. Don't you… don't you know that?" A sad, disappointed look entered her eyes when Steven didn't reply after several more seconds. When he finally spoke again, it wasn't a direct response to her statement.

"I just… I don't want to risk you guys hurting her." Steven said. "I-If something happens, then… I—I don't want you guys poofing her an-and bubbling her away again, leaving her to suffer for eternity. Or… or breaking her…" All three of the Gems visibly flinched at those last three words, each of them feeling a bit hurt that Steven would actually think they would shatter a Gem in such an unprovoked manner.

A couple seconds passed, and then Garnet stepped towards him, resting a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"Steven, we all care about you. More than anything else in this world, just remember that." she began. "But… if it makes you feel any better, maybe you can go to the Kindergarten alone this time."

" _What?!"_ Pearl exclaimed.

"Wha… really?" Steven said, ignoring Pearl for the time.

"Yes. You have held your own against Jasper before, and I think you can this time as well." Garnet smiled at the boy. "We believe in you, Steven."

In response, he smiled up at her, until Pearl jumped up and cut in. _"No!_ Garnet, you—you can't be serious!"

"I can, and I _am."_ the Fusion said tersely.

"But… but it's _Jasper!_ I… you… w-we can't just send him off alone like that!"

"Why not?" Steven asked. "Don't you trust me?!"

"Oh. Steven, no… I mean, yes… I—I trust you, Steven. But I don't trust Jasper. What if something happens to you while you're out there alone and we're not there to help?"

"But it won't, because we aren't going to fight! I'm going to heal her, and I'm gonna try and reason with her!" Steven paused for a second. "Whether she likes it or not!"

"But, Steven, she's a Quartz soldier from _Homeworld!"_ Amethyst pointed out. "Reasoning with _her_ isn't going to be like reasoning with Lapis or Peridot. Gems like Jasper, Gems like… me," She glanced down solemnly at the dark purple stone on her chest. "we were formed to fight on Homeworld's behalf. It's gonna take _a lot_ to convince her otherwise. You saw her the last time we were in Beta, and out on the beach, and on that Homeworld ship, and…"

Pearl gave the purple Gem a strange look before turning back to Steven. "I can't believe I'm saying this… but Amethyst is right, Steven. Jasper is as stubborn as she is dangerous."

Steven still sat on the bed, twiddling his thumbs as he thought over what they said. He sighed. "Don't try to talk me out of this. It won't work."

"Steven, please, just—just think about the risks you're taking!" Pearl said, practically pleading with him.

"I know the risks." Steven said simply.

"At least let _me_ come along with you." Amethyst suggested. "I've been looking forward to seeing her again." Steven winced as Amethyst turned away, a bitter look in her indigo eyes.

"No," Pearl said. "you two alone are just another disaster waiting to happen."

Amethyst opened her mouth to retort, before both of them noticed Steven had gotten up and was walking downstairs.

 _"Steven!"_ Pearl cried out on the verge of panic, moving towards him in two quick strides. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere right now." he reassured her. "I'm waiting for Connie to get here." He looked at the floor for a second. "And then… we're heading out to Beta."

* * *

The Beta Kindergarten's Warp Pad rang out as it activated. Steven and Connie, the latter carrying Rose's pink sword, the massive blade hidden within its scabbard, on her back, stepped off of the Warp Pad the instant the glowing cyan warp-stream disappeared. As the kids walked side-by-side through the Kindergarten, Connie scanned her surroundings with a bit of uneasiness, while Steven aimed his dark brown gaze at the orange ground, uninterested in the sight he'd already seen thrice now.

"So this is where the Homeworld's Quartz soldiers were formed?" Connie asked.

Steven perked up at her question, glancing at her in slight confusion until he remembered she hadn't been to a real Kindergarten yet. "Well, some of them. There were a lot of Gems, like Jaspers and Carnelians, that formed her during the Great Gem War. But Gems like Amethyst were formed in another Kindergarten. It's a lot bigger and a lot, ugh… _different_ than this one is." He stopped in his tracks as Connie walked to one of the red sandstone walls, running her palm up and down the smooth surface, giving a deformed exit hole at eye level with her a weird look.

"There were more of these places?"

"Well, only one other… as far as we know." Steven said as Connie began running her hand along the shapeless edges of the hole. "It was the very first Kindergarten to be created here on Earth, called Prime. There were supposed to be a lot more, but then, well, my mom started the Rebellion and didn't give them a chance to." Connie made a disgusted sound as she pulled away from the hole, stepping back to look up at several more like it lining the walls.

"Wait, didn't you say Jasper was formed here?"

"Yep." Steven said matter-of-factly.

"Uh… _Jasper?_ The huge overpowered Gem soldier that we fought before?"

"Mm-hm. A lot of Jaspers were formed here actually, and our Jasper was one of them."

Connie gave him a weird look, before gesturing at the hole she'd been standing near a moment ago. "But look at these holes. They're all… deformed and… small." She winced as she caressed the inner walls of it. "What happened to this place? Why are all the holes so… misshapen?"

"Oh, uh…" Steven paused, trying to remember what Peridot had told them. "The Prime Kindergarten was created here on Earth to form more Quartz soldiers to fight on Homeworld's behalf, but after my mom started the Rebellion and Homeworld learned that she had the power to heal her Crystal Gem soldiers, the Beta was made to create more Quartzes when the ones from Prime weren't enough. But the Beta was a rushed job, the Gems here were mass-produced, one right after another in rapid succession. Most of them came out, ugh… _'defective'_ because of that."

Steven stopped again, remembering the huge Quartz exit hole, its inner walls lined with solid glass. "Well… except for one."

"You mean Jasper?"

"Yeah. You'll know her hole when you see it."

They stood in silence for a moment, until a distant sound caught Steven's attention. It sounded like something sharp scraping against the sandstone walls, a bit grating, even from a distance.

"…Do you hear that?" Steven spoke up. Both of them fell silent again as Connie listened hard for the sound.

"Uh, not… really? What does it sound like?"

"I dunno. Come on!"

With little hesitation, Steven started running in the direction he heard the sound, listening as it seemed to gradually increase in volume the closer he got. The sound was at its loudest when the reached the corner of the red sandstone wall where Steven pushed himself up against its side, making a 'shh' gesture at Connie as she approached. She slowed to a stop beside her friend, reaching up and grabbing the hilt of Rose's sword as Steven stepped forward to check out the sound's source.

"No, wait," Steven said in a hushed voice. "I don't want to give her the wrong idea."

"Are you sure?" Connie asked.

Steven looked at the ground, silently thinking it over, before nodding once. With a disappointed sigh, Connie slipped the sword back into its scabbard as Steven cautiously stepped over, hands gripping the edge of the wall as he peered around, expecting the worst. When he did, he was surprised to find, not Jasper, but a completely different Corrupted Quartz there.

Her skin was a bright crimson, streaked and splotched with light orange and lighter red markings. Her mane and her fuzzy tail were a dark red hue and she only had a single spike protruding from her forehead, her face blank of features regardless. Her clawed forepaws were outstretched in front of her, relentlessly scraping against the sandstone wall, her doglike tail flicking back and forth every second or two. She looked like she wouldn't reach any higher than Steven's waist.

Steven recognized her colour scheme as that of a Carnelian, like the one he'd seen back in Homeworld's human zoo. She appeared to be 'overcooked' like Amethyst. He couldn't see her gemstone from the angle he stood at. Pulling back, he cast a glance at Connie over his shoulder.

"Get ready."

She nodded once with a determined smile, hastily grabbing the sword's hilt and unsheathing the massive weapon with a sharp metallic _shing!_ Steven winced when he heard the scratching stop momentarily, before starting up again five seconds later. His gemstone glowed beneath his shirt as he summoned his shield, stepping just around the corner, silently peering at the Carnelian as she pointlessly clawed the wall. He glanced at Connie one last time, before putting two fingers to his lips and letting out a sharp whistle, quickly pulling back before the tiny Corruption spotted him.

He stood in front of Connie, his shield held in front of them protectively, while Connie held the sword up, resting its blade gingerly on her shoulder to keep from accidentally hitting Steven with it.

They both waited in tense silence as they heard the Carnelian's light footsteps against the ground. Rather abruptly, she appeared from around the corner, catching both of the kids off-guard. Her gem, a faceted orange-red stone, was on her chest, surrounded by unkempt dark red hair.

The kids stared down at the Corruption for a long time, the Quartz matching their tactic, standing there, frozen, the only sound her heavy, raspy breathing. Connie gave it an unsure look when she realized just how small this Quartz was. All three of them remained like that for a good ten seconds, the kids waiting to see if the Carnelian was planning to make a move, the Carnelian studying the humans that towered over her. Tense silence reigned.

Then, the Carnelian opened her fanged maw, letting out a deep, extended roar that was much bigger than she was.

Both of the kids were practically blown back by the force of the sound. They squeezed their eyes shut, Connie stumbled back a couple steps and Steven planted his feet firmly into the ground. By the time the Gem went silent and Steven opened his eyes again, he found her lunging straight at him, her mouth hanging open silently. She had one claw raised. Steven instinctively raised his shield and both kids flinched at the awful scraping noise that rang out as the Carnelian slashed at the shield, leaving three jagged white marks across the shield's translucent surface.

Steven looked down at it in shock until the Carnelian reared up again. Bringing both claws down at the same time, she split the shield right in two through the middle, causing it to vanish with a white flash in an instant. The boy cringed, stepping back once as Carnelian lunged at him again. This time, he didn't have his shield to block her blow. His gem glowed in preparation to summon a replacement, but Carnelian was faster.

"Steven! Watch out!"

Connie stepped forward, raising her sword over her head, but before she could swing it down, Steven cried out as one of Carnelian's claws ripped away part of his shirt. She didn't give him a chance to recover as she jerked to the side, tearing her claws viciously through the bare flesh of his arm. Both kids watched in stunned horror as two deep lacerations appeared on his forearm, both running the length of it, fresh red blood splashing onto the nearby wall; it took a moment for the pain to get to him.

" _Steven!"_ Connie shouted, feeling scared tears burning in her eyes.

Steven had grabbed his arm tight, stumbling back and falling to the ground with a series of pained screams. He looked down with wide, tearful eyes as blood dripped onto his legs and onto the ground, even from beneath the vice grip of his opposite hand. He looked up with pleading eyes as Carnelian leapt at him, letting out a hostile snarl. He put both hands up and looked away, knowing deep down that it was going to work… until the Corrupted Gem's attack was abruptly ricocheted by his shield.

He watched as she skidded back, letting out a frustrated growl before she charged him again. Spreading both hands in a wide gesture in opposite directions from each other, he watched as the shield grew vastly in size… but became harder to keep summoned at the same time. He groaned with exertion as Carnelian repeatedly clawed at slammed her head into the shield's face, trying futilely to break through it, not realizing it was too big to simply destroy.

Steven thought to himself, now they knew why she was scratching that wall. She'd been sharpening her claws.

All it took a brief moment of inattention for the giant shield to suddenly falter, allowing the Quartz to break through it effortlessly. She was on top of Steven in an instant, relentlessly raking her claws across his shirt and, as the cloth was torn away, the bare skin of his chest and stomach. He cringed painfully as he struggled to push her back, trying not to watch as she repeatedly snapped her jaws, aiming her fangs at his face. He looked down, looking at his torn clothes and skin, then looked up, searching for Connie's whereabouts.

She was nowhere to be found.

Steven couldn't suppress a scared whimper as the pain in his arm rapidly worsened, to the point of being absolutely excruciating. He was beginning to shake as he held onto Carnelian's shoulders, clenching her thick, tough red skin beneath his fingers. His grasp was faltering rapidly and, before long, her jaws would snap around his neck and there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it. He briefly glanced at her sparkling red gemstone where it was on her chest, right at eye level.

If he could just get a good grip on it… no. Easy didn't mean _right._

He looked up with tearful eyes at Carnelian, silently pleading for her to stop, but she wouldn't. She was too far gone, no longer capable of reason. Or mercy.

Just when Steven thought he was going to give in beneath her weight, her whole body went tenser than a rock and she froze in place. He didn't know why until he looked down at the light pink sword tip exiting out through her chest just to the right of her sparkling gemstone. Steven finally allowed his body to relax and, the instant he let her go, she vanished in an explosion of scarlet smoke. He winced as it cleared. When he looked again, the Corrupted Quartz was gone, nothing but her disembodied gemstone resting on his belly.

He looked up to find himself staring eye-to-eye with the blade of Rose's sword until Connie pulled it away from him, her cold, threatening glare instantly morphing into a concerned one as she looked down at her friend. She sheathed her sword again as she started towards him.

"Steven! Are you okay?!"

"Ugh… y-yeah." Steven picked up Carnelian's gem in both hands as he painstakingly pushed himself into a sitting position. He stared down silently at her for a second, a strange feeling of guilt entering his mind as he looked at her. Why was it they were working so hard to save Jasper… but they were just going to let Gems like this continue to suffer?

"S-Steven?" Connie said.

His eyes widened as he was pulled back into reality. "Oh, it… it's nothing, Connie."

He gasped when the gem was suddenly surrounded by a pink glow and he formed a magenta bubble around it, causing the glow of regeneration to vanish in an instant. He let out a sigh of relief as he tapped the bubble's top, sending yet another Corrupted Gem away to the Burning Room.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Connie asked. "It looks like that Corrupted Gem hit you hard."

Steven groaned painfully as he stood up, briefly looking at the bloody mess he'd left on the ground from his injuries before turning away with a disgusted grunt.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine, Connie." he reassured her, forcing a smile through his pain. He lifted his bloodied arm and gently touched it with a hand, before pulling away with a hiss.

"Steven… m-maybe we should call this off for now. You need help." Connie said.

He looked down at the bleeding scratches that zigzagged across his torso and the tattered remnants of his shirt. The front of it was completely torn away, only leaving the jagged edge of the red collar. The big yellow star wasn't even visible anymore. His left sleeve was half torn away as well, his right sleeve the only one that was left completely intact. He reached down and ran a finger across the surface of his gemstone. Fortunately, it was still untouched.

He couldn't lie to himself; it hurt, _a lot,_ but he knew that Jasper was hurting out there even more. Not to mention he wasn't looking to prove the Gems right today. They might never let him go on a mission again… or at all.

"No. It-It's fine… it—it can wait until later." Steven said calmly. "Jasper needs us right now."

"But, Steven, you're hurt! And what if she attacks us? You're in no shape to fight right now."

"I've been through worse." Steven lied. "And the Gems entrusted me to do this mission alone. I'm not going to let them down."

Without another word, he continued on through the Kindergarten. Connie didn't follow right away, opening her mouth to say something, before going silent and running to catch up.

They continued on for several yards through the Kindergarten's twisting, turning, hole-lined canyons. They almost looked eerie, hundreds of holes in vaguely humanoid shapes looming silently against the towering red walls. That is, until they reached a much bigger, much more… normal looking exit hole. Steven rushed to meet at the second he laid eyes on it and Connie followed close behind.

"Is… _that_ Jasper's hole?" Connie asked.

"Yep! According to Peridot, it's one of the most perfect Quartz holes she's ever seen!"

Connie stepped a bit closer to it. "Is that… glass?"

"Uh… probably?" Steven said, a bit unsure of himself.

"Whoa. Sand has to be almost 3100 degrees Fahrenheit to turn into glass!"

Steven's eyes went wide at Connie's words. After all, he hadn't even known that sand could turn into glass in the first place. He decided to change the subject instead.

"Um… yeah? Jasper was in that hole last night, and Garnet told me that she'll probably still be there now. Now all we have to do is find her, and then I can use my healing powers on her again and then Jasper won't suffer anymore!" Steven suggested eagerly. "Or… she'll attack us and we'll end up having to bubble her away again." He started walking towards the wall below where Jasper's exit hole was. _I really hope it's the first one._ he added inwardly.

Steven jumped up, slipping his feet and latching his fingers onto any and all exit holes lining the wall beneath it, using them as a makeshift ladder to reach it. Latching his fingers into the unnaturally smooth, slick edge, he pulled himself up and threw himself forward into its shadowy confines with a grunt of effort. Once he stood up, Steven took the time to stare upwards at how the exit hole dwarfed him in size; compared to it, he may as well have been little more than an insect that needed to be crushed.

He glanced down at where Connie waited and waved at her with a smile, before turning and starting into the dark tunnel of the exit hole. As he went, he lifted a hand and, after staring at it for a second, licked his palm until it was well coated with his saliva. The deeper into the hole he got, the darker it got as the sunlight was left behind and the harder it became to find his way about it. He glanced down towards his pink gem, recalling how Gems like Pearl and Peridot could use them as a lantern to light up dark areas.

He closed his eyes and silently willed the light to life. Opening one eye, he was disappointed to find that it didn't work. He grabbed the edges of the stone and even tapped the face of it a few times, beginning to talk to it.

"Light! Uh… activate? Turn on? _C'mon,_ please? For me?" Despite Steven's incessant begging, the gemstone remained dark. He let out an irritated, drawn out groan of frustration, but jumped and threw both hands to his mouth when he heard how it echoed through the tunnel. He didn't even notice the much larger presence with him in the darkness, blindly walking straight into it. He grunted and recoiled back.

His eyes having adjusted to the darkness, he could barely make out a massive, wolf-like shape curled into a ball in a large hollow in the back of the exit hole.

Then, it began moving. And then, it started to get up.

Steven's eyes went wide and he shakily took a couple of steps back.

"Ah! Jasper!"

At first, the monster didn't do or say anything. She simply loomed over him in the darkness, her heavy, reeking breath the only sound in the darkness.

Steven cocked his head in confusion. "Jasper? H-Hey… I'm here to help you."

In response, the Corruption roared at the smaller creature, sending Steven cringing and stumbling back. The sound reverberated off of the narrow, glassy walls, making Steven's ears ring.

"No… n-not again. Ugh… J-Jasper! Calm down! I—I just want to…" But he was cut off as the Corruption shoved her head forward. Thankfully, the spikes on her face missed him, but when the hard skin of her featureless head rammed hard into his chest, it sent him to stumbling back with a pained cry, the boy nearly collapsing to his knees. He groaned in pain, tears beginning to form in his eyes again… until he heard the Corrupted Quartz beginning to rush him, effortlessly pushing herself through the hole as she charged the boy. She'd formed from it once, after all.

Steven whimpered as he staggered upright in a rush, whipping around and running quickly in the opposite direction, screaming desperately all the while.

Meanwhile, Connie stood just outside, her sword unsheathed, nonchalantly running a finger across the blunt edge of the blade. She made a soft sound to herself, until she heard the screaming echoing through the hole. It was gradually getting louder.

"What the…?" The closer the screaming got, the more she recognized the voice that was making it. "…Steven?"

She readied her sword as Steven was thrown from the hole, crashing hard onto the hard ground several yards below. He rolled for a second, before pushing a hand against the ground to stop himself. He let out a pained moan. Connie looked at him with wide, worried eyes until the Corrupted Quartz caught her attention. They watched as another roar emanated loudly from the hole, the huge Corruption bursting forth from it with such force that she broke off an entire chunk of sandstone from the edge. The kids shielded themselves as the debris came raining down, but Connie acted quickly as the Quartz towered over where Steven laid.

The boy's eyes went wide as he looked up at her. This wasn't Jasper. This was… this was…

" _I will_ not _be beaten by another Fusion!"_

" _Come on! We can beat them! If we stay… together!"_

Steven froze at he stared up at the teal Corruption, splotches of pink and darker green covering her thick skin. A growl rumbled in her throat as she glared down blindly at Steven.

"You… y-you were there." Steven choked out weakly.

The Corruption snarled in response.

"I-I'm sorry that happened to you… but—but we don't have to fight. I—I can help you too… if-if you want…" Steven offered. He grimaced, the pain in his battered body becoming gradually worse.

The Corruption remained still for a little while longer, as if she were considering his offer. She shook her head rapidly like a dog throwing water from its fur, before lifting a dark teal claw and aiming it at Steven, letting out a raspy, monstrous growl. The sunlight glinted off of the tips of her claws. Steven's eyes went wide, before he let out a pained grunt, summoning his bubble shield the instant her claw came down. She snarled in surprise, pushing the bottom of her foot against the bubble's surface, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"Please, Corrupted Quartz… Gem… monster. I—I don't want to hurt you, an-and I don't think you want to hurt me either. I—I can help you… I can _heal_ you! I—I know you're suffering, and… I know you're still afraid of… _her,_ but… I can help! I promise, j-just…" He was cut off as the Quartz slammed her flank into the bubble, sending it rolling uncontrollably away. Connie looked on in shock, watching as the Quartz repeatedly battered and threw herself against the bubble, sending it rolling chaotically about the Kindergarten.

"Steven!" she cried out, before rushing towards them, Rose's sword in tow.

With a grunt, Steven popped the bubble before the Quartz had a chance to hit it again. She didn't stop as she rushed him though, lifting a claw to deal a blow to him.

"Agh… p-please… _stop!_ Why—Why are you doing this…?" Before she could hit him, he blocked it with his shield, but the Quartz reared up and put her other foreclaw atop the shield as well. Both paws on the shield, she shifted all of her weight onto it, making it much harder to keep it summoned. Steven watched in fear as the shield began faltering his grasp.

" _Hey!"_

The Quartz looked up at the voice and Steven weakly turned as Connie ran towards them.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" she shouted.

With a raspy grunt, the Quartz shoved her paws powerfully against Steven's shield. That was all it took to destroy it. Luckily, she simply pushed off of it to propel herself in the opposite direction, whipping around to face where Connie stood, her sword held out in front of her, the blade pointed at the Quartz, preparing for the Corruption to make a move. She stared blindly at the blade for a long time, her breathing seeming to slow down a bit as she looked at the sword of Rose Quartz.

Steven's eyes went wide when he realized what was going on.

 _She recognizes it._ his thoughts told him. He pushed himself up into a standing position, summoning his shield while the Corrupted Quartz was distracted. He didn't want to hurt her, but he felt like he had no choice. He wanted to start with Jasper for now, not only because she was Corrupted in a different way than this Gem was, but because he felt like he had some sort of personal attachment to her. He couldn't place why.

He closed his eyes as he threw the shield, but instead of cutting through her physical form, it only hit her in the leg and bounced back towards the ground. It dissipated before it landed.

With a deep snarl, the Quartz abruptly whipped around to face Steven as he summoned another shield. She reared upright with a roar, claws outstretched, until something sent her stumbling clumsily back onto all fours. Steven looked up, surprised to find that Connie had somehow gotten up onto the Corruption's back, presumably while she'd been standing straight up the way she was. At first, she could only grab the Quartz's thick white mane as she began running around the Kindergarten, growling and snapping her jaws in desperation to get the human off of her.

She repeatedly slammed into walls, cracking and breaking them apart, and thrashed her legs, but Connie was hanging on tight.

"Ah!" Connie cried out, digging her fingers deeper into the Corruption's mane to avoid getting thrown off. Finally, she pulled herself atop the creature's head and latched onto one of the spikes on her face, seeming to make the Corruption panic even more. Lifting Rose's sword up over her head with her free hand, she brought the blade down hard, aiming its pink tip at the Quartz's blank face as she opened her jaws again to let out an enraged roar.

She screamed out a battle cry as the blade stabbed halfway into the middle of the Quartz's face where her nose would've been.

Connie held on tight as the Quartz roared in unbearable agony, beginning to charge in a completely random direction, before stopping and rapidly shaking her head as she started backing up. A final, dying roar was cut off short as she disappeared in an explosion of mint green smoke, sending Connie flying helplessly back, her fingers still curved from where she'd been gripping the Corruption's mane.

Time seemed to slow down. Steven's eyes went wide as he watched her slam hard into one of the sandstone walls before collapsing limply to the ground several yards below. Tears began welling up in his eyes as he stared at where she laid. It was like that incident back in the Homeworld Kindergarten playing out all over again right in front of him. He felt sick to his stomach as he stood there. He was frozen, the anxiety rapidly overwhelming him. And then, all at once, he broke into a run towards her, tearfully shouting her name.

He nearly ran into the wall himself in his haste and fell to his knees at her side. He ignored the pain as his injuries flared up from his exertion, cradling his unconscious friend in uncontrollably shaking arms. He choked back a sob and the first thing he did was push an ear to her chest. Part of his anxiety was instantly relieved when he realized that she still had a pulse and that she was still breathing. Both were abnormally slow, but slow was better than nothing at all.

He stared down at her for a moment, and whimpered as he pulled her close, beginning to sob quietly, hiding his face in her thick black hair.

Both of them failed to notice the new arrival almost ten seconds later. Heavy footsteps stomped across the orange ground in the kids' direction, stopping briefly as its form faltered into a glitching, static-y mess. As she walked, she felt one of her claws nudge something on the ground. Cocking her head slightly, the Corrupted Gem proceeded to lower her head close to the green and pink gemstone lying flat on the ground.

Somehow, she recognized it, and stepped back. She tipped it up onto its edge, resting her paw atop it. She rolled it back and forth a bit, letting out a barely audible snarl as she did so.

Steven didn't pay it any mind at first… until a deafening, sickening crack caught his attention. He jumped and looked up from his injured friend, his eyes widening when he saw the all too familiar shape of a red and orange Corrupted Quartz standing there, all four clawed paws on the ground. Beneath her left front paw was a pile of jagged green and pink gem shards. Steven instantly felt nauseous the instant his eyes fell upon it.

"Y-You… you shattered her." Steven choked out, his voice shaking.

Jasper snarled as she glared sightlessly down at the boy where he sat defenselessly on the ground.

Steven scanned his surroundings for a moment until he found where Rose's sword had landed, several feet away. He took the time to gently pull Connie over to one of the lower exit holes, whispering to her, "Wait here." before running over and grabbing the sword. He stood up, wincing slightly, and looked up determinedly at Jasper, holding the sword in his right hand, aiming the blade at the ground, letting the tip rest against it.

"Hey… you—you found us, Jasper!" Steven said, forcing a nervous smile up at her. She simply stared in response, the only sound her heavy, raspy breathing.

Steven tried to distract himself from the shards of that other Corrupted Gem still crushed beneath her foot.

"Uh… o-okay, um…" Steven flinched as he subconsciously stared down at the shards, the sunlight glinting off of them. "You… y-you shattered her because… _she_ did this to you. R-Right…?"

A soft growl emanated from Jasper's closed mouth.

"I'll… take that as a yes. But… she—she was suffering too. Just like you are. Sh-She was just… upset, and afraid. Be-Because of what you did to her. You—You didn't have to…" Jasper cut him off with a loud but relatively brief roar, startling the boy and sending him jumping back with a soft gasp. He looked down at Rose's sword, still gripped in his hand, and then looked back up at the Corruption. She still stood there, motionless. Was she waiting for him to make a move?

Steven lifted his shaking opposite hand and licked his palm, the spit from before having since dried over time. He watched as Jasper seemed to sense this and took a single step back, deliberately leaving one clawed foot hovering in the air, ready to strike him at any time. She snarled bitterly, but it was cut off as her warped physical form began to glitch again, making Steven wince.

"Your… your gem. It-It's… it's cracked."

Jasper didn't 'respond' this time, only allowed a low growl to rumble in her throat.

"D-Don't worry, I—I can help you with that too. Just—Just be still…" He stepped towards her, but Jasper matched his footsteps in the opposite direction. She appeared to be trembling. He outstretched his hand towards her, but the Corrupted Quartz only lashed out at him in response with an angry growl. The simple act of clawing at him made her form fall apart as Steven recoiled. He squinted as he stared at her gemstone.

One of the cracks was stretching almost all the way through.

"Jasper, what's wrong? Don't you—don't you _want_ me to help? I—I…" Steven let out a gloomy sigh. "Look, I… I know you hate me. Or my mom, or whatever. But being healed by your enemy _has_ to be better than suffering for eternity!" He fiercely wiped away tears with his opposite hand, the Sun glinting off of the pink blade as he did so. That's when it caught his attention. "Oh. Is—Is… _this_ why you won't let me come near you, Jasper?" He tested her by holding the blade out in front of him; she shrunk down a little in response, snarling defensively. "Is… this what you're afraid of?"

Steven exchanged glances between Jasper and the sword, before opening his hand, allowing it to clatter metallically to the ground. Jasper seemed to jump at the sound.

"S-See? It's okay." Steven glanced down at it before nudging the hilt with his foot, sending it sliding away. "It—It's gone now. I'm not going to hurt you, see?" He held up both hands in front of him, showing her that they were both empty despite the Corrupted Gem's distinct lack of eyes to see it with. Regardless, she seemed to relax a bit.

He began taking shaky steps towards Jasper, slowly at first, before picking up the pace a little. He winced when Jasper growled at him as he stood within arm's length of her, baring her fangs; she looked ready to strike at him at any moment. Every time he tried to move any closer or touch her, she recoiled back or growled dangerously, much to the hybrid boy's frustration. He remembered what Pearl had told him earlier: she's as stubborn as she is dangerous.

"I—I know you don't _want_ help, but—but I know you're suffering in there. I-I've seen it for myself… I've _felt it_ in my dreams! I know what you're going through, and… and all I want to do is _help._ Make it where you aren't suffering anymore." Steven said, his voice low so that only the two of them could hear. At this distance, he noticed the bruises and scrapes covering her banded, splotchy skin. The Corrupted Quartzes they'd fought earlier probably attacked her and, with a cracked gem, she couldn't put up a fight against them anymore. "I… I know it might be hard to think that anyone would _ever_ care about someone like you, but… but I _do._ So, please, Jasper. Just… let me heal you."

Neither of them made a sound at first. The Quartz was breathing hard still, but she wasn't even growling now.

Steven glanced down and hesitantly lifted his hand, hovering it inches over Jasper's damaged gemstone, silently offering it to her.

A second passed. Then two.

Steven looked away momentarily, a disappointed look in his eyes as he thought over the situation, wondering just how he'd be able to get her to give in again… until he felt something hard against his palm. He let out a small gasp as he looked up, watching as Jasper silently pushed her gemstone against his saliva-coated hand. It had no effect for the first couple of seconds, but stars entered the boy's eyes as her gem became surrounded by a light amber glow. Beneath the glowing light, he watched as the fissures that ran through the length of her gem mended together until it looked like they were never there. Two more seconds passed, and Steven pulled away as her whole form became engulfed in white light.

He stepped back, silently watching, awestruck, as her monstrous form rippled and changed.

A few soft footsteps caught his attention and he turned to look at Connie as she approached him. She was holding onto her left arm with a vice grip and the dark skin was literally black and blue with ugly bruises. She was gripping the hilt of Rose's sword in the hand of her broken arm, but Steven could see that it was trembling violently. Other than the fractured bone in her arm, her clothes were torn slightly and her skin was scraped and bruised, but otherwise, she looked okay.

They looked at each other silently for a moment, before turning back to Jasper as the light faded away.

Jasper was on her hands and knees at first, before shaking as she pushed up into a standing position. She staggered a bit before she caught herself on a nearby wall. She looked the same as she had the last time her Corruption was healed, residual features of her Corrupted form still sticking around. She looked up with a weak groan, looking at Connie first, and then at Steven, her hard gaze remaining on him for a much longer period of time.

"So… you _did_ come back." she stated simply. She chuckled bitterly, but it was cut off with another pained groan; the ground cracked as she lost her balance and fell onto her knees again, grabbing her still Corrupted right arm with her left hand. "Why…? Why do you keep doing this? What if I… just want to be left, _ugh…_ a-alone…?" Jasper was surprisingly calm as she spoke.

"But you don't. I—I know it." Steven said. "You were suffering. I—I can't just let you stay that way!"

 _"So what?!"_ Jasper retorted, shooting a hostile glare at the boy. "Who _cares_ whether I'm suffering or not?! Who…?!" Jasper's voice lowered with a raspy sigh. She lifted her right hand and flexed her red claws in front of her, a sad look in her single golden eye. "Who even wants me to come back…?" Steven's eyes went wide at that statement. "Ugh… _who?!"_ She punctuated the word by slamming her clawed fist to the ground. She bowed her head, her blonde hair hiding her face from view.

"Well, um… there's…"

Jasper interrupted him, as if she hadn't even heard him. "Does that Peridot want me back? Does Homeworld want me back?!" She lifted her head, staring at Steven from the shadows of her hair. "Or… does _she_ want me back?" Steven gave her a confused look and that made the half-Corrupted Gem shift her gaze to the ground, chuckling softly to herself. "That… _brat._ Lapis."

"Lapis? Why—Why would you ever want to see her again?" Steven asked genuinely.

"I think what you mean is… why would _she_ ever want to see _me_ again." Jasper 'corrected' him. She chuckled again. The more she did it, the more the kids began to notice the bitter, despairing edge to it.

"Well, m-maybe not her. But… I—I do. An-And Amethyst."

Jasper scoffed. "Why should I care what that… _runt_ thinks of me? She's just another failure that should've been purged a long time ago."

Connie tightened her grip on the sword, her face twisting in an expression of disgust. She looked over at Steven. "Are you _sure_ about this, Steven?" she whispered to him.

"Just… just wait." Steven whispered back. He rose his voice again as he took a couple of steps towards Jasper again, only for her to snap her head to look him in the eye.

" _Don't come any closer."_ she warned. Steven's eyes went wide and he put his hands up, backing away again. "And… _you._ Why would _you_ want me back? You… you're lying…"

"But I'm not!" Steven retorted bluntly.

"You have to be! _You_ are a Crystal Gem… _I_ am a Homeworld soldier. You're not _supposed_ to care about _me…"_

Steven perked up slightly when she said that. "Actually, a-about that… I—I had a dream a few nights ago. I… I saw her, Jasper."

"What? Who?" Jasper asked.

"…your Diamond."

Jasper's eye went wide and she let out a shaky, higher-pitched gasp. She stared at Steven in surprise for a moment, before her expression abruptly melted away.

She turned away from him, laughing again. "You—You're mocking me."

"Wh-What? But—But I…"

"Don't waste your breath. I know why you're _really_ here." Jasper said, half to herself. "I… know you're not Rose Quartz. Or… at least not _the_ Rose Quartz. I—I can't… she was a savage _rebel…_ but she would _never_ forget our Diamond." She looked down at her uncorrupted palm for a moment, flexing her orange fingers in and out. "So, there. You can move on with your life now… and _leave. Me. Be."_

"Jasper, that's not with this is about! It's…!"

"I don't want to hear it!" Jasper frustratedly interrupted.

Steven opened his mouth to retort, but this time, Connie cut him off, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, _come on!_ I just… I can't understand this! Steven healed you because he _cares,_ not because he wants to hurt or manipulate you for his own benefit! Is it _really_ so hard to believe that Steven helped you because it was the right thing to do?!" All three of them fell silent once Connie's rant trailed off, before Jasper looked up and stared her down. If looks could kill…

"You don't get it… _human._ This isn't how it works on Homeworld, so why should I think that's how it works on Earth?" Jasper said. She leaned up and balanced herself on her knees, making corresponding gestures with both hands. "Gems don't just help other Gems… because it's _right!_ They help each other if they're allies… or if one is looking to take advantage of the other." Jasper smirked and gestured towards the kids. "And since we aren't allies… I think even an unintelligent organism like yourself will be able to the math."

Connie growled under her breath as Jasper continued to insult her and humankind as a whole. She tried to lift her arm and, by default, her sword, opening her mouth to make a comeback, but was cut off as she let out a pained cry, letting her arm drop limply, immediately grabbing it again. Subconsciously, she lost her grip on the sword and it clattered to the ground, the metallic sound catching Jasper's attention. While Steven was occupied with comforting his pained friend, Jasper stared at the pink sword, wide-eyed.

"The sword… of Rose Quartz." Jasper choked out.

Connie's eyes went wide and she pulled away from Steven's comforting touch, picking up the sword with her good hand and pointing it in Jasper's general direction.

"Yeah. What of it?"

Jasper's gaze travelled between the sparkling pink blade and the human on the other side of it, before she looked away, genuinely beginning to laugh to herself, catching Connie off-guard.

"What…? Hey! What's so funny?"

"Haha, heh… that—that sword is meant to be handled by someone that can actually use it. Not some… short-lived organic… _human._ Heh… I guess I shouldn't put it past _Rose Quartz_ to recruit humans into the fold too… unless this is some sort of sick joke. I could squash you into the dirt like an _insect."_ Jasper mocked her.

Connie growled and Steven put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away, taking a couple of strides towards the Gem.

"Why don't you come over here and say that to my _face?!"_ she shouted, a look of hatred in her dark eyes.

"Is that _really_ a risk you're willing to take?"

Connie said something in response, but Steven didn't hear it. He was hugging himself, squeezing his eyes shut as tears formed in them, trying and failing to block out the insults tossed back and forth between his friend and the partially healed Quartz soldier. He just wanted to help Jasper and he wanted her to be friends with them… not for them to fight at first glance like this. He hesitantly opened his eyes, as Connie let out a shout, and he was surprised to see her lunging at Jasper with the blade. The Quartz's eye was widened in stunned surprise.

"No… it—it's not going to end like this." he whispered to himself.

Steven let out a horrified gasp and, in an instant, he was standing between them, facing Connie.

Connie's eyes, at first narrowed her determination, suddenly went wide and she let out a startled gasp as she still held her sword out in front of her. "S-Steven?!"

He positioned himself firmly in front of her, his shield summoned, the blade of Rose's sword piercing straight through it, the tip mere inches from his battered chest.

"Just… just _stop!"_ he snapped at her.

Obediently, she slowly pulled the sword back, allowing it to slide easily out of the shield. Once it was removed, Steven's shield instantly dissipated.

"Thank you." Steven said bitterly, not looking up at his friend.

Connie lowered her sword with a disappointed sigh, looking at the ground as well.

"Hmph. Coward." Jasper snorted under her breath.

" _What?!"_

"No, Connie!" Steven retorted, grabbing the blade and pushing it down. "We're not here to fight!" He turned to face Jasper. "That goes for you too!"

Jasper snorted in disdain.

Steven sighed, stepping back to look at both of them. "I—I just wanted to try and help, but…" He looked up at Connie. "we can't _help_ if we keep threatening to poof her!"

"But, Steven, she's an insensitive, good-for-nothing _brute!"_ Connie snapped. Even Jasper's eye seemed to widen at that. "L-Look, Steven, I know you mean well and I know that you want to try and help her. But… not _all_ Gems can be redeemed." She looked at Steven with a sympathetic look, stepping towards him and resting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just… bubble her away and get it over with? Just… forget this ever happened."

Steven stared at the ground, a sad look in his eyes. "But—But she…"

"She's stubborn, Steven, that's all there is to it. She doesn't _want_ your help, so she's going to make sure she doesn't get it." Connie told him, looking equally forlorn. "Maybe… maybe she _wants_ to suffer. Maybe that's just what she deserves…" She gasped softly when Steven subconsciously pushed her back, sending her stumbling a couple of steps. She closed her eyes, silently willing for the instinct to fight back to go away.

"No. _No-one_ deserves to suffer! What if… wh-what if it were _me_ in that bubble, Connie? Or—Or Pearl? Or Garnet, or Amethyst?" Steven retorted, giving her a stern but saddened look. "We—We wouldn't just give up on _them,_ would we?" His expression softened as he looked up at her, while Connie glanced away guiltily, searching her mind for a justifiable response.

"But they're not _Jasper._ They aren't as dangerous as Jasper, and they're not as stubborn as she is either…"

"But they'd still be Gems who need our help!" Steven interrupted. "And, right now, Jasper is too."

Connie opened and closed her mouth a few times, but eventually gave up, staring down at Rose's sword, casually swinging it back and forth in her grip. Steven stared at her for a bit longer, before turning to face Jasper. He opened his mouth to say something to her, up until he noticed something.

She was gone.

 **I feel like there were a few moments of OOC-ness here and there, like Amethyst in her only scene at the beginning and Connie throughout a lot of her scenes. The former I kinda have an excuse for: in canon, Amethyst seems to get really serious whenever it comes to Jasper, especially in 'Crack That Whip', 'Steven vs Amethyst', 'Beta', and 'Earthlings'. Oh, wait... And with Connie, well, I dunno really.**

 **Also, Connie nearly dies because I just wanted to traumatize Steven a little more, and no, Jasper didn't recorrupt this time. She just ran away because savage Quartzes have feelings too... but she doesn't want them knowing that. They'll find her in the next chapter, don't worry, and that's when Steven will have a little heart-to-heart with her and that will be the official beginning of the whole "Steven tries to redeem Jasper but everyone else is kinda leery about her still" arc. So yes, Jasper's finally here, and this time, she's here to stay... mostly. The Corrupted Quartz the kids fought was the same one Jasper fused with in 'Earthlings', but when Jasper shattered her unbubbled gemstone, she shattered her. Like, really. Ocean Jasper (the proposed name of the green-and-pink Quartz Corruption) is destroyed forever, she ain't coming back except in occasional mentions.**

 **I know Corrupted!Jasper's appearance didn't make the most sense; she was hiding off to the side somewhere while the kids were fighting Ocean and, while they were distracted, she came up and shattered her. The Corrupted Carnelian wasn't Homeworld human zoo Carnelian, by the way. She was just one of many Quartzes to come out of Beta "defective" and I wanted to give our protagonists an opponent that really means Bismuth, despite her small stature and status as a Corruption. Don't worry though, she wasn't completely pointless, she'll return in the future.**

 **That is all. Read, review, or don't. Stay tuned for chapter six! And hopefully, the wait won't be as long this time. ^^**


	6. Chapter VI - Reformation

**Spoilers for _Beta_ and _Earth..._ y'know what? I think you guys get it by now. **

Jasper was on her knees, palms against the ground.

Everything around her was pitch black: the walls, the sky, the floor, _everything._ It made her feel blind.

The only thing that proved to her that she wasn't was a figure standing in front of her, her pink form vivid and clear despite the darkness, as if she were standing on a completely different plane of existence. Her back was turned to Jasper, her thin arms crossed over her chest; an unseen, unheard wind oscillated her thick, soft bush of hot pink hair.

A barely audible moan escaped Jasper's lips as she tilted her head up, her single eye narrowed to a yellow slit. That is, until her gaze fell upon the figure.

Jasper stifled a gasp and her eye went wide. "M-My Diamond?"

Pink Diamond said nothing in response nor did she move to acknowledge Jasper's presence, but the Quartz would recognize her Diamond any day.

Jasper let out a grunt of exertion as she pushed herself onto her feet, staggering briefly, but not falling this time. She hardly noted the fact as she immediately broke into an eager run, her feet making heavy, audible stomps against the invisible ground with every step. Jasper was a Gem that could keep her composure effortlessly, regardless of the situation, but she hadn't seen Pink Diamond ever since… the Great Gem War, over six thousand years ago. Tears of joy brimmed in her eye. Excitement and happiness, for the first time in millennia, overwhelmed her.

"My Diamond!" she called out. She repeated the two words when Pink remained quiet and still, and Jasper began to slow to a patient stride before she stopped altogether within arm's length of the Gem. Pink only stood a head taller than Jasper; that was tall for the average Gem, but abnormally short for a Diamond.

"My… Diamond?" Jasper said, her voice low. She stepped forward and reached out a shaking hand towards her. "P-Pink…?"

The second her muscular red hand touched Pink's thin shoulder, she immediately recoiled and grimaced as she held her clenched hand against her chest. Pink's form was as cold as ice, so cold it almost _burned_ to the touch.

Jasper caressed her fingers, their tips cool even from a second of contact with Pink's freezing skin. She glanced back up at Pink, an unsure look in her eye, and tried to the best of her ability to shrug off the strange occurrence. She spoke up, continuing to try and fail to grab Pink Diamond's attention, before finally opting to step around in front of her. The moment she did so, Jasper quickly realized why Pink wasn't answering her.

It took a lot to scare, or even surprise a Gem like Jasper, but she let out a horrified gasp and threw both hands to her mouth, stepping back a couple of steps.

Pink Diamond's face was _gone._ No eyes, no nose, no mouth, just a featureless blank slate in their place. The exposed gemstone on her belly was there, but a deep, jagged web of cracks traced it from one edge to the other. Pulsating cracks of glowing white light started at the edges of her gem and extended out across her stomach with a pattern reminiscent of shattered glass.

"Pink Diamond…" Jasper whispered under her breath.

As she stood there, trying to recover from the shock, the winds began picking up, beginning to howl deafeningly in her ears and violently tousling her waist-length blonde hair.

It hardly fazed Jasper… until Pink's physical form began faltering and glitching out right before her eyes, the glowing cracks visibly worsening by the second.

"Pink!" Jasper cried out. "No… n-not again!"

Her cries went unheard as the wind picked up to near tornadic levels; the only thing that kept Jasper on her two feet was her weight.

Then, Pink Diamond's form began to fall apart in the violent winds. It started at her feet and slowly moved up, entire sections of her body being blown into fine streams of pink dust that sparkled in the darkness like glitter, flowing and twisting through the air as the wind carried it away. Jasper felt hot tears beginning to burn in her eye and, within seconds, they began to spill down her face as she outstretched her arm, stepping towards Pink's dissipating body.

"Pink! _Pink Diamond!"_ she cried out. "No! You can't do this! _You can't leave me again!"_

Her screams of anguish went unheard and ignored in the darkness, by both Pink Diamond and fate itself. Before long, her illusion was little more than the sparkling pink dust, being carried by the wind as simply as sand being blown from the shore at the beach. Jasper collapsed helplessly to her knees, digging her clawed hands into the ground beneath her as she began sobbing deeply under her breath. The dust transforming into a cloud of pink rose petals went unnoticed.

" _Please…"_ Jasper choked out. "don't leave me…"

She trailed off, beginning to sob openly, covering her face with her hands as she crouched there. There was nobody else here, it wasn't like she would risk humiliating herself.

"Jasper?"

Jasper let out a soft, trembling gasp. Her eye went wide and round, and her pupil shrank to a pinprick.

She would recognize that voice _anywhere._

"You don't have to continue suffering under their _tyranny,"_ Rose Quartz began. "you can make a new life for yourself. You can be _free,_ here on planet Earth."

Jasper didn't even take a moment to consider Rose's offer. She summoned her crash helmet and was on her feet in an instant.

"You…" Jasper cast a hostile glance over her shoulder towards Rose, wishing the sheer rage in her eye would shatter her on the spot. "you… _traitor!"_ Jasper punctuated her enraged scream, whipping around to face where Rose Quartz stood, motionless and, for the time, silent much like Pink had been. Her facial features were hidden by the shadows cast by her glossy pink bangs, only her mouth, lips pressed into a thin, neutral line, was visible.

"How can you say such a thing?" Jasper began as she started towards Rose. "How can you even _think_ about trying to convince me to join your little rebellion?!"

Rose Quartz stood her ground as Jasper stomped towards her, the banded soldier's weapon at the ready as she seethed with murderous rage.

"Those… Crystal Gems, those _rejects!_ They mean _nothing_ to me, Rose! Not now, and not in a million years!" Jasper's lips stretched into a thin, psychotic smirk. "But _you,_ heh… you mean _everything_ to me, Rose Quartz. I respect your skills, I respect your tactics! But you're nothing short of a _savage_ who needs to be _purged_ from this universe after what you did to my Diamond! _Your_ Diamond!" Jasper's fists clenched into tight fists at her side and her smirk disappeared. She felt tears burning in her eye, but she blinked them away. _"Pink Diamond!"_

Blinded by manic grief, Jasper lunged forward with an enraged scream, aiming her crash helmet straight at Rose's gemstone, intending to shatter it into a million pieces.

Rose Quartz didn't summon her shield. She didn't hold up her sword or even flinch as Jasper dove at her. At the last possible second, Rose Quartz had moved behind Jasper, her form little more than a pink streak in the darkness. She moved at impossibly fast speeds that Jasper hardly had a chance to react to. Her helmet bashed through little more than empty air and nearly sent her falling onto her face. The only thing that kept her from doing so was Rose grabbing her hair from behind and jerking her back.

She let out a startled cry as Rose dug her plump fingers deep into Jasper's thick, tangled mane and wrenched her backwards onto her feet, effectively immobilizing her.

Jasper fought to free herself from Rose's grasp, cursing the pink-haired Quartz, but froze abruptly when a sharp blade was shoved through her, going in through her upper back and exiting out through her chest, truncating the yellow insignia on her uniform vertically through the middle. Her furious protests went cut off as a weak, strangled cry was ripped from her throat, an intense burn exploding into her chest. She felt her form struggling to stabilize itself around Rose's blade.

Regardless, Jasper twisted her head to look Rose in the eye, but when she looked over her shoulder, she didn't see Rose Quartz.

She saw the tiny form of Rose's host, a young human boy that designated himself Steven Universe.

His teeth were gritted in a furious frown. His eyes were missing and in their place was a blinding pink glow that emitted from his empty sockets.

That was the last thing Jasper saw before she retreated into her gem.

Jasper let out a choked, horrified gasp as her eye snapped open wide and she jerked upright. She grunted when her head hit the glassy ceiling of the dark, narrow hollow at the very back of her exit hole. She groaned as she caressed what was probably a bruise forming and went to stand up. Within seconds, her knees buckled and she collapsed hard to the hole's floor. For a long time, she just laid there, face-down against it.

When she got up again, she shifted around and situated herself in a sitting position against the exit hole's wall, waiting for her vision to adjust to the darkness.

It was eerily quiet and, for the first time, it actually had Jasper on edge. She was beginning to regret her decision from earlier that day.

That girl, she was just a human, a short-lived Earth-born organism and little more than a wild animal or livestock in the eyes of Homeworld and, likewise, in the eyes of Jasper. Her words, her thoughts, and her opinion meant absolutely nothing to Jasper; the human girl could've gone on all day about how she was a savage brute that deserves to suffer and Jasper couldn't have to cared _less._ But when her Corrupted, broken mind suddenly transformed the human into the image of Pink Diamond, Jasper's idol and beloved leader, the words suddenly became a whole lot harder to swallow.

She could barely walk on her own two feet, but she couldn't bring herself to stick around either. Seeing Pink chastise her and insult her to her face, even if she knew deep down that the illusion wasn't real, was just too much for the Quartz soldier to handle, even after five long millennia. So she ran. Well, to the best of her ability, anyway, and returned to her old exit hole, the closest thing to home that she knew on this… _rock._

Jasper sighed, closing her eyes as she tilted her head back, facing the ceiling.

She flinched and let out a pained sound when pain suddenly shot through her hand, the one that was no longer a gnarled claw thanks to the boy's healing powers.

She grabbed her wrist as she held her hand up. Jasper looked at it for a couple of seconds before she began to shake, feeling anxiety building within her chest.

Her hand was slowly, _painfully_ in the process of twisting and reshaping itself into an animalistic claw. It felt stiff and the slightest attempts at bending her sharpening fingers sent a sharp wave of pain through her entire appendage, radiating all the way up into her shoulder and the side of her neck, making her grimace until it subsided into a dull throb. Her chest rose and fall rapidly as she began to hyperventilate, putting her hand down again and putting the opposite one against her chest, completely covering the diamond insignia there.

She was better than this. She was strong! She wasn't going to let fear overwhelm her, fear was _weakness,_ and soldiers didn't have time for weakness.

A scream of agony was ripped from Jasper's throat as pain exploded into her back, up and down its length, concentrated into small, individual locations. It felt like being run through on a sword as she was suddenly pushed from the wall and fell onto her chest. Both arms outstretched in front of her, her now fully Corrupted hand was in clear view, right there in front of her. Massive, dark green spikes pushed themselves from beneath tough flesh of Jasper's back and protruded from her thick blonde hair, sticking up in every direction.

She felt tears, ones of pain and of sheer terror, forming in her eyes when she realized what was happening.

Her form was reverting back to its fully Corrupted state. The thought of her mind being imprisoned within the body of a wild, mindless _animal_ that she, nor anyone else, could control scared Jasper to the core. Jasper never thought she'd find herself in _this_ desperate a situation, but she wished Rose… Steven… whatever it was, was here with her again, ready to go to the ends of the Earth to save her from this literal Hell. Because now, she was going to let him do whatever he needed to do, anything to keep from Corrupting again… only when there was no longer anyone out there to save her.

It wouldn't be long now.

The Crystal Temple's Warp Pad activated, catching the attention of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl where the three of them waited anxiously in the living room.

They turned to look at the Warp Pad. The glowing blue warp-stream disappeared and revealed Steven and Connie standing upon its crystalline surface, both of them staring silently at the floor.

Connie was grabbing her arm, horrible bruises visibly covering it despite her dark skin. Her long black hair was dirty and completely disheveled and her body was covered with several more bruises and smaller, much more insignificant cuts and abrasions.

Steven fared no better, if not, he looked _worse_ _._ The front of his shirt and his sleeve was completely torn away. He had an arm crossed over his torso, hiding several freshly bleeding lacerations of varying size and severity criss-crossing his stomach and chest. His left arm, hanging limply at his side, had two long, deep slices that ran his arm's length, parallel to each other. Fresh blood stains clung to the remnants of his sleeve and the fingers of his right hand; gradually drying blood caked the skin surrounding the gruesome injuries.

The boy appeared to be swaying slightly as if he was about to pass out and, judging by Connie's posture and expression, she was in excruciating pain that she tried and failed to hide.

All five of them were silent for a long time. Amethyst stared at the kids with wide, shocked indigo eyes and Garnet sprang to her feet in an instant, stepping forward to approach them. Pearl was faster, however, recovering from her shock and sprinting towards the kids, screaming out their names in horror. The first thing she did was spring forward and grab them both in a firm embrace, tears streaming from her eyes, her voice shaking as she desperately asked them if they were okay. She got her answer when the kids let out collective cries of pain and Pearl quickly recoiled, covering her mouth with both hands as she stared down at them, a scared look in her eyes.

"Oh! I—I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized.

She hardly noticed as Garnet stepped up beside her. "Steven, Connie, what happened? Who did this to you?"

The kids exchanged unsure glances and, before they had a chance to say anything, Pearl had summoned her spear, holding it at the ready, an uncharacteristically cold look in her eyes.

"I swear, if that Quartz laid a hand on either of you…"

"No!" Connie interrupted hastily. "Don't blame her for this! It wasn't her fault!"

"Actually… we—we didn't even _find_ Jasper!" Steven added.

"Wh…" Connie quickly silenced herself once she realized what Steven was trying to do. Luckily, the Gems didn't seem to notice her slip-up.

"Hm." was all Garnet said as she adjusted her visor, waiting for the kids to continue.

"We… had a run-in with a couple of Corrupted Gems that we missed the last time we were there." Steven began.

"We bubbled them away," Connie continued. "but… not before they dealt some significant damage." She winced as she lifted her broken arm, as much as she could, as an example. "I think it might be broken." she added softly to herself. The Gems exchanged concerned glances amongst themselves and looked back at the kids as Connie spoke up again, casting a glance out the window at the sky, turning a dark blue as night fell.

"It's getting late. I should really be getting home, my parents are probably wondering where I…"

"Oh, no, you're not!" Pearl shouted as she dissipated her weapon. "Neither of you are going _anywhere_ until your injuries have been patched up!"

"Pearl?" Steven chimed in.

"Oh, um… yes, Steven?"

"Connie's mom is a doctor. Remember?" The boy smiled slightly in amusement at her.

"Oh." Pearl said. She looked away, her face tinted a shade of blue that matched her eyes. "Yes, of course. Carry on then."

The kids smiled at each other in silent amusement before Connie departed, quickly bidding a farewell to Steven and the rest of the Crystal Gems and running out the door. However, Steven had no such luck and was left alone to be an inevitable victim to the Gems', or more specifically, Pearl's version of human "first-aid". Once his injuries were doused with peroxide to disinfect them, considering the amount of dirt and dust he could've gotten into them back at Beta, Pearl got a bit carried away.

After she was finished, Steven was lying in his bed, flat on his back. He was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, only his two eyes visible from beneath them. He looked less like a half-human Crystal Gem warrior and more like a mummy laying there. He was helpless as he laid there, mostly immobilized. He could only stare up at the ceiling, a pleading look in his dark eyes for someone or some _thing_ to free him from his cloth prison.

However, that became the least of his worries when he heard the Gems talking to each other downstairs.

"I don't understand. You should've seen them getting hurt like this!" That was Pearl's voice.

"It was _one_ of the possible futures." Garnet said in her normal stoic tone of voice. "In fact, it was possible since the very first day we took Steven out on a mission. Him getting hurt out there will _always_ be a possibility, Pearl, whether we're there or not."

"But it was still a possibility when they were out there _alone!"_ Pearl retorted. "At least when we're there, we have the opportunity to get him out of harm's way! But what if he was knocked out? What if both of them were and they were left at the mercy of those—those _monsters?!_ What if they _died,_ Garnet? What then?!" Pearl was screaming at Garnet now, a rare occurrence when in a conversation between the pale Gem and the red Fusion.

Steven heard Garnet make a barely audible "Shh." sound. He could picture her putting a finger to her lips until Pearl fell silent again.

"You can't protect him forever, Pearl." Garnet said calmly.

Steven heard a soft whimper come from the skinny Gem. She was crying now.

"But I—I ca…" she trailed off momentarily. "I can't lose him, Garnet. I just… _can't."_

"I know."

About a minute later, Garnet had departed into her room, but Pearl hadn't. Steven saw her coming up to the loft out the corner of his eye and he quickly closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.

He heard Pearl's light footsteps stop relatively close to him. He heard her sniff and choke back sobs several times and she didn't seem to do much else.

Steven sighed inwardly. Just when he thought Pearl had gotten past watching him sleep every night…

It wasn't long before his consciousness gave way to slumber and, when he opened his eyes, for the first time, his dreams weren't plagued by Jasper.

Soft, serene music seemed to play in the background as Steven opened his eyes to a cloudy place with a pink haze hanging over everything. It was very reminiscent of Rose Quartz's room in the Temple.

Red rose petals glided past on the cool breeze, and he seemed to be alone there.

For the first time in weeks, his dream was actually… _good._

Steven was surprised, turning all the way around, looking up and looking down in search of _something_ that broke the relaxing nature of his surroundings. He'd fallen asleep with such a hurricane of emotions that he could've almost guaranteed he was going to have another nightmare. After listening to Pearl's complete break-down when he was injured while out on a mission, to losing Jasper to the Quartz's own stubborn nature… again.

Then, in the distance, he saw it.

It was a figure approaching him from the distance, looking like a large silhouette. Once it got a little closer, he was able to make out features.

"M-Mom?" Steven squeaked out. No, there had to be some sort of catch. Maybe it was that monstrous version of his mom from Jasper's mind?

But then, he got a response. It was that silky voice that he knew so well, like the voice of an angel. Even when she only called out one word: his name.

Tears of happiness began to spill from Steven's eyes. He started walking towards her, before breaking into a sprint. "Mom!"

He rushed towards her, arms outstretched, ready to give her a hug. It may've been just a fabrication of his own subconscious, but he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

And it didn't last long.

Once he was halfway to the towering Gem, she disappeared in an explosion of pink smoke. Steven's eyes went wide with horror and he thoughtlessly dove forward, falling onto his chest and sliding across the ground. Rose's glittering pink gemstone landed harmlessly in his palms. Tears, of increasing sadness this time, formed in his eyes as he stared down at her, his hands beginning to shake. His own tears dripped onto its sleek surface, doing nothing to reform her.

"Mom? M… Mom…?" He squeezed her gem in his grasp and cradled it to his chest, beginning to sob, until he heard something.

A heavy, raspy exhale of breath that wafted right into his face. He didn't have to look up to know who it was.

Steven began to shake as a mixture of grief and rage rapidly built up within him. "No… _no!_ Just—Just go away! Get away from me! I—I never want to see you again!"

But Jasper didn't leave. She towered over the boy in silence, continuing to breathe heavily. Her Corrupted physical form was restored and she stood within arm's length for Steven to try and heal her again, but he didn't care. She had just poofed his mother away right before his eyes and he was becoming blinded with overwhelming rage and frustration. The tears spilled down his cheeks in salty torrents and he squeezed his eyes shut. He jumped up to his feet and Jasper let out a surprised grunt as Steven shoved her back.

"I said _go away!"_ he shouted. He opened his eyes again, staring at Jasper with a look of hatred in his eyes. "Why do you _always_ have to do this? Why do you _always_ have to come back? Why do you have to come back and ruin _everything_ for me?! I get it now, you don't want my help! I've tried and _tried_ with you, Jasper! I really have, but… I just can't win with you! Nobody can! So, I give up! Okay? That's what you want, isn't it?!"

Steven winced in concern at Jasper's reaction. She didn't growl, she didn't attack, she didn't do anything. She only hung her head, letting a low growl rumble in her throat. But it didn't sound like a growl of hostility, it sounded like a growl of… defeat, if that was even possible. But various forms of growls and roars were the only real sound Jasper could make in this form, she had no other choice. Steven's mind briefly debated on whether or not she was trying to trick him, but he finally gave in with a sigh. He couldn't help _but_ feel bad for her.

"Are… are you sure, Jasper? This isn't some kind of a trick, is it?"

The Corrupted Quartz didn't react for ten seconds. With a sigh, Steven licked his palm and held it up in front of Jasper.

"Here. Knock yourself out." he said listlessly. With a grunting sound, Jasper perked up and stared blindly at Steven's palm for a long time before she pressed her gemstone to it. As her Corrupted form was shrouded in light, Steven noticed she was making a strange repetitive sound that trailed off as she began to reform. Once she took her humanoid form again, Steven realized that it was her Corrupted form's closest thing to a low chuckle.

"Jasper, what's…?"

"Heh-heh… I guess you really aren't her… are you?"

Steven did a double take at those words. "Wha… What?"

"Rose Quartz would have _never_ gone this far. She would've given up… a _long_ time ago." Jasper rasped. She chuckled bitterly, but her smirk vanished as quickly as it appeared when she spoke up again, "I know by experience."

"What?! N-No, the Crystal Gems never give up on anything!" Steven retorted.

"That's what you think. That's what those _traitors_ have brainwashed you to believe." Jasper began. "Rose Quartz doesn't give second chances. Or third chances, or fourth chances. But _you…_ you do. I realize now that I have underestimated you. I respect your determination, your charisma, but most of all, I respect your _abilities._ And that's why I'm here, I…" She let out a sigh of exasperation and muttered something under her breath. "I'm… reaching out to you. I need your help."

"What…?"

"I… I… I can't take this anymore!" Steven flinched when she suddenly started screaming, grabbing and pulling at her blonde hair, squeezing her eye shut. "I'm doing nothing but _suffering._ Over and over again, every second of every day! I didn't think so much of it at first, I thought I would finally have some semblance of freedom, even stuck here on Earth, but then… you reminded me of what it was like to be conscious! To be in my right mind! To be… _me_ again! And I want that back!" Steven let out a yelp when she reached forward and grabbed his hand in her two, falling to her knees. _"Please!_ I'm _begging_ you! I—I can't live like this, like—like a wild animal anymore! Just… just let me be… _myself_ again!"

She pushed her face against their hands, crying softly. Steven couldn't tell if she was faking it or not.

"But I… _can't_ heal you, Jasper." Steven admitted.

" _What?!_ Wh-Why not?! You've already done it _three times_ now! What do you mean you _can't?!"_

"...Every time I heal you, Jasper, you just go right back to being _Corrupted!"_ Steven explained. "It—It's not just you either. There was another Corrupted Gem that I tried to heal, a long time ago. I healed her Corruption… sort of, but then she went right back to square one! I can heal a Gem's Corruption all day long, Jasper, but I'll never be able to do it permanently." Tears began to form in his eyes again as he looked down at hers. Her eye was wide and pleading as she looked up at him. She was _desperate,_ but all Steven could say was, "I… I'm sorry."

Jasper released Steven and threw her hands to the ground, beginning to breathe heavily again.

"No… no, there—there has to be _some way."_ she choked out. "I can't stay like this forever as one of these… these _things!_ Just another Gem _tainted_ by this planet!It's an embarrassment to Homeworld! It's an embarrassment to the Diamonds! It's an embarrassment to _everything_ I stand for!" She punctuated the examples on her list with three swift punches to the ground.

"If there was a way to heal you permanently, then I'd do it, Jasper!" Steven said. He reached down and took one of her hands in his own again, forcing a sad smile down at her. "Whether you want to believe it or not, I—I care about you, and I'd do anything to help you and to protect you if I could, but, I just… I _can't."_ His smile faded, but Jasper flashed one at him instead. It had a sadistic, bitter edge to it, but it was sincere.

"Then… you really _are_ better than Rose." Jasper echoed. Steven shivered at her words.

"You can't heal me, and you won't bubble me… then why don't you just—just… _shatter_ me?"

" _Wh-What?!"_

"Shatter me! Do it and get it over with!"

"I… n-no! I won't do that, Jasper! I know you're suffering but being destroyed forever isn't the answer!" Steven retorted, becoming increasingly frustrated.

"Oh, don't tell me," Jasper snapped. "because it's 'not right'?" She added the last two words in a high-pitched, half-hearted imitation of Steven's voice, rolling her eye and making corresponding gestures with both of her hands.

"Ye… uh, no! No! Because _nobody_ deserves that kind of fate, Jasper!"

"But which fate is worse?!" Jasper shouted. "Being Corrupted and suffering for eternity? Or being _in pieces?!"_

"I—I…" Steven racked his brain for answers, but found none. _"Ugh…_ I won't shatter you, Jasper! But… I'll figure out something else, I promise!"

He didn't even wait for an answer. He turned on his heels and began walking in the opposite direction, even as Jasper called after him.

"No! _No...!_ D-Don't you walk away from me!" Jasper shouted.

Steven paused momentarily, but sighed and continued on into the pink-hued distance, shaking his head solemnly. He still heard Jasper's cries as the world began to swirl away. " _Nooo_ … _!_ Come back

here! C-Come back… and _finish this_ … _!"_

For the first time in weeks, Steven woke up calmly. He didn't scream, he didn't inhale sharply, and he wasn't unpleasantly thrown back into the waking world. He fluttered his eyes open to find his surroundings shrouded in darkness, his legs still tied together with cloth bandaging and his arms still bonded firmly at his sides. He writhed half-heartedly for a few minutes before giving up altogether. Jasper's words still echoed in Steven's mind, as per usual. But, this time, the memories sent chills down his spine and he felt goosebumps forming on his arms.

She told him to shatter her, destroy her forever. That was the closest thing a Gem got to _dying._

But… why would Jasper want to die? Was her suffering so bad that she preferred being destroyed to living the rest of her life that way?

Steven thought back to when he entered Jasper's Corrupted mind and witnessed her suffering for himself. Twice. But for her, _that_ was life now and she had no escape from it. Steven winced in a mixture of sadness and disgust as the realization caved in on him.

He had no intent of actually going through with it, but he played with the thought. If he found himself in a situation where shattering, _killing_ another Gem was all but necessary, could he even bring himself to go through with it? He didn't know if he'd ever be able to forgive himself or if he'd ever able to _live_ with himself knowing that a living, breathing Gem died by his hand. Their shards would be on his hands for the rest of his life.

No, there had to be some other way. There just _had_ to be.

Healing her every day for the rest of his life would get tedious, even if it meant keeping Jasper's half-Corrupted physical form stabilized. But what would happen if something happened to him or he just wasn't around? She would outlive him in the end anyway, all of the Gems would. Doing that was completely out of the question. "Taming" her Corrupted form was an option that was still on the table, much like Centi. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of keeping a mentally broken extraterrestrial war veteran around as a pet, though. On top of that, he still wasn't really… _healing_ her.

He wondered if Centipeetle continued to suffer mentally, tamed or not.

Then, Steven tried to think back to the Centipeetle Mother and when he tried to heal _her_ Corruption. She seemed fine at first, if a little amnesiac… until he got her "talking" about how she became the way she was when the Corruption Song was set off over the Earth. She was seemed okay… then she started coughing acid and reverting back to her original form when she began recalling her old memories: losing track of her crew, the Song and the flash in the sky, and the rest was history apparently.

But her transformation was just so… _sudden._

Jasper was a little different, Steven could heal her much _further_ than Centipeetle was. When Jasper was healed, she retained her speech again, if a bit deeper and raspier than normal, while Centi still only "spoke" through chirps and squeaks. That, and her Corruption always reverted much _slower._ One second, she was relatively okay, the next, she was slowly turning Corrupted again. Not to mention his healing powers didn't work as long on her. Or so it seemed. Perhaps her blatant hostility towards Steven, Connie, and the Crystal Gems played a part in it too. She was always in the middle of yelling at him and freaking out when the Corruption came on again

Was that a factor in how quickly a Gem's Corruption reverted? Centipeetle had been doing fine… until she started crying because she was remembering, reliving her old, still troublesome memories. When she began to panic as she rapidly lost her humanoid form again, the Corruption began to spread much faster.

But what if that hadn't happened? If Steven had decided to take her out to Beach City or something first, would her healed form have lasted longer?

If Jasper wasn't so driven by hatred and bitterness, would hers last longer too?

That was it! He knew how to heal her! Steven wriggled in his cocoon for a moment until he flipped off of the bed and landed with a thud on the floor of the loft. He needed to go back to the Beta Kindergarten, and _soon_ before the Sun came up or the Gems caught onto his plans… if Garnet hadn't already. That is, if he could get free of his bandaged prison first.

It was a strenuous task, but Steven eventually managed to free his good arm enough to tear apart the bandages and pull them away. He used their remnants to wrap up his wounded, still mildly bleeding arm and wrapped a few layers around his battered torso before he headed out again. He would've felt more confident in his actions if he had Rose Quartz's sword with him, but Connie had taken it home with her tonight. He could've asked her to leave it behind, but, not only did she need to get home as soon as possible and have mother dress her wounds, he hadn't planned on heading back out to Kindergarten tonight.

Especially not with his still fresh injuries and the possibility of there still being leftover Corruptions out there with ferocity to rival that of the Carnelian.

If things went his way, which, as it seemed to turn out lately, they didn't, then he wouldn't have to fight at all.

Steven adjusted the wrappings on his arm before stepping onto the Warp Pad. He looked around cautiously, making sure the Gems were nowhere in sight, and he closed his eyes. He pictured the Beta Kindergarten in his mind, the images of sandstone walls that stretched into the starry night sky, the deformed holes scattered across their surfaces reflected into the darkness of his closed eyes. He imagined the sights, as well as the sounds, wind howling softly through the canyon, and the sensations, the warm air swirling around his body, the grains of sand carried by the wind and stinging his skin like millions of tiny needles.

Lifting both arms and outstretching them at his sides, the warp-stream flashed to life and carried Steven away into Warp Space, transferring him to his location of choice.

When his eyes opened again, the illusion of the Beta Kindergarten around him became a reality as he was dropped out of Warp Space again five seconds later.

The sky was still dark and starry, but no longer tainted by the light pollution that carried over from Beach City. It was just like he had imagined it, the warm air still and silent in the darkness, the wind blowing through the canyon intermittently. He scanned his surroundings for a moment. At first glance, he was completely alone there, and he looked at his feet, sighing softly. He tried not to think about what might happen if he encountered something like that Carnelian again. He probably wouldn't have made it out at all if Connie hadn't been there.

He clenched his fists at his sides and tried to put the thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on his primary objective. He was going to find Jasper's exit hole and search for her there. If she wasn't there, he would search the Kindergarten until he found her. And there, he would put his theory to the test and possibly, hopefully save Jasper from her shattered mind once and for all. This was his final option, he couldn't really think of anything else. And, if this didn't work, then he didn't know what he'd have to do with her. Maybe poof and bubble her away again; that was all he'd have left to do anymore.

Steven inwardly kicked himself for dwelling on the worst-case scenario. He could save her, he would save her if he put his mind to it.

He couldn't just give up on her, not now. Because the Crystal Gems never give up on anything.

Steven departed from the Warp Pad and made his way to Jasper's hole. At this point, he had practically memorized his way from the Beta Warp Pad to the glass-lined Quartz exit hole in the middle of the Kindergarten, even in the pitch darkness of the night. He didn't look at the towering walls of sandstone or the shapeless and vaguely humanoid shapes etched deeply within them. He cleared his mind, staring silently at the ground as it passed by beneath his feet. He didn't look up once he reached it. Somehow, he just sensed that the hole was there.

He turned to face it where it lied in wait, carved deep into the sandstone. The moonlight glinted off of the glass as if it were crystal.

Steven moved forward and prepared to climb up to the hole, but, just for a second, he stopped himself. He wondered if he was really going to do this or not. He was alone, the Gems had no idea he was up and about and Connie was, not only injured, but at her home, asleep more than likely. He was alone here with a Homeworld-affiliated Quartz soldier that wanted nothing to do with him; he couldn't guarantee that she was being truthful when he saw her in his dreams. What if she was just manipulating him? Trying to trick the boy straight into a trap where she would shatter or rip out his gemstone as revenge for what happened to Pink Diamond?

Steven's fingers clenched, his nails digging into the sandstone floor of one of the lesser Quartz holes. He'd always been so optimistic and well-intentioned… but how did he know his optimism and good intentions wasn't blinding him to what was really there? A savage, animalistic brute that wanted nothing more than to shatter him and the rest of the Crystal Gems too? He refused to shatter her when she requested it, but would she show him that mercy? Would she show that same mercy to Garnet? Amethyst? Pearl? No, of course not.

The boy closed his eyes and bit his tongue, letting out a heavy sigh as he stood there, latching onto the edge of one of the holes and preparing to pull himself up. He hesitated for a long time, until he finally came to a decision, speaking up half to himself, his voice barely over a whisper, "Don't make me regret this, Jasper." Then, he pulled himself up and climbed into Jasper's hole. He stood at his full height within it, but he still looked miniscule in comparison.

He listened hard for any telltale signs that Jasper was somewhere deeper in the cave, like her raspy breathing reverberating off of the glass walls or some other sound. Then, suddenly, a voice called out and caught him completely off-guard.

"Hey! Get out of my hole or I'll come up there and tear you to shreds!" a raspy, but feminine voice shouted at him.

Steven tensed up hard with a soft whimper and cautiously turned to face the owner of the voice. "J-Jasper?" But when his gaze fell upon the culprit, he quickly realized that that wasn't the case. She looked like Jasper, with her well-built, shapely form, intense glare, and the distinct bandings that streaked her arms and face. But, at the same time, she looked different: the insignia on her chest was white instead of yellow and she had a purple, hexagonal-faceted gemstone visible just over the edge of her collar that sparkled in moonlight. Steven gave the Quartz a skeptical look and she grinned up at him in response.

"Amethyst?" Steven couldn't help but wince a little when she returned to her short, stocky physical form and began laughing in her normal tone of voice.

"Haha! Priceless! Y-You should've seen your face!"

But Steven didn't think it was all that funny, grimacing at her, feeling a little hurt. "It's not funny, Amethyst!"

The purple Gem suddenly trailed off when Steven shouted at her, and she fell silent altogether when she saw him looking away, a hurt look in his eyes, tears glinting in them.

"Hey!" she said, leaping up and landing at the edge of the hole alongside him. Steven turned away from her, crossing his arms, much to Amethyst's dismay. "It was… just a joke, y'know."

"Well, not a very funny one." Steven said bitterly.

"I-I don't get it. Why have you been so… uptight lately?" Amethyst asked, beginning to sound frustrated herself. "You used to be fun,what happened? We don't need another Pearl, y'know, one is more than enough." Again, Amethyst's remarks and jokes fell flat on the hybrid boy.

"I'm not being 'uptight'!" Steven snapped, suddenly turning to face her. "It—It's just… ugh. What am I saying? Do you even care, Amethyst?!"

"What?!"

"Do you even care?! About Jasper, about why I'm here! Do you… do you even care about me?!"

"Hey, hey, slow down there, Steven! Of course I care about you!" Amethyst cut him off before he could rant further. "What made you think that I didn't? Is it something, ugh… Jasper told you?"

"No! And quit blaming everything on her!" Steven shouted. "Just because she's a bad Gem doesn't mean everything's her fault!"

Amethyst crossed her arms over her gem, looking away and smirking ever so slightly. "Well…"

Steven scoffed in disgust and turned from her again. "Why are you even here? If you're just here to crack jokes, then you can go back home! I can deal with this on my own."

"Well, excuse me for trying to lighten the mood a little!" Amethyst snapped. "Jeez, I'm just trying to help."

"You're not, though. And you can't." Steven said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I don't want your 'help', Amethyst. I—I just… I want… Jasper."

Amethyst gave him a weird look. "What? But… why?"

"Because, I want to help her, I want to help her so bad… but I can't. I keep trying, but it just… it feels like I'm getting nowhere!" Steven covered an eye with his hand and closed his other. "I—I figured it out now, I figured out why she keeps recorrupting. It's because she's so angry and hateful. Towards me, towards the Crystal Gems, towards this planet, towards… herself. I could heal her every day for the rest of my life, but she'd always just go right back to being Corrupted again."

"Eh. That's Jasper for you." Amethyst said, glancing away with a sly smirk.

"Ugh, Amethyst! Take this seriously!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! But I don't know what else to say. That's just… Jasper for you, or any Homeworld soldier for that matter. Quartzes are stubborn, you can't change that."

"Trust me, I know." Steven said flatly. He then flashed a slight smirk at Amethyst who quickly returned it, but it disappeared as soon as it came. "Then… what do I do? She wants me to heal her, she told me! She's suffering and she's… she's so scared, Amethyst, an-and I don't know what to do about it anymore. I'm afraid we'll just end up bubbling her away again…"

"Well, a good place to start would be… doing what you do best." Amethyst suggested. "Talking to her. Just give her one of your Steven™ brand rousing speeches and then maybe she'll finallycrack!"

"Are you sure? I mean, I thought Quartzes were stubborn."

"They are." Amethyst said as she leapt from the hole and back onto the ground. "But do you have any better ideas? It might be worth a try."

Steven smiled slightly at her and turned to leave, but his face screwed up in confusion and he turned to look down at Amethyst again. "Hey, Amethyst!"

"Yeah?"

"…Why are you here?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. It's just my time in the spotlight, I guess."

Steven gave her an even weirder look. "What are you…?"

"We can talk about this later, Steven." Amethyst interrupted with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Right now, Jasper needs you."

Steven nodded once and turned to go, but stopped in his tracks again. "Uh… Amethyst?"

"Hm?"

He smiled sadly down at her. "Thanks."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him, her indigo eyes wide and her mouth neutral. She turned away again with a slight smile of her own. "No problem, man."

"Oh, an-and Amethyst? Could you… maybe… wait out here? I'd… feel better if I had a little back-up."

Amethyst hesitated for a moment, before shrugging and summoning her whip, lashing it against the ground. "Ah, well. I've got nothing better to do."

Steven smiled and thanked her one last time before finally starting his descent into the darkness of Jasper's exit hole. About halfway down, he paused and looked down at his gemstone. The wrapping of the bandages stopped just above it, revealing the bottom half of a diagonal laceration that skirted past the top edge of his gem. And again, he came dangerously close to losing his gemstone and whatever would become of him after that. He grabbed the rim of his gem and glided his fingers around its edge a few times.

"C'mon… light!" he commanded it. Again, it remained dark.

That is, until stomping sounds began to sound through the tunnel, accompanied by raspy let out a mixture of a terrified whimper and a strangled gasp as his gem flickered a bright pink a couple of times. Once it stopped flickering and emitted a brilliant beam of pink light, Steven could clearly see the massive shape of a Corrupted Quartz monster sliding through the narrow tunnels in his direction. She really hadreverted back to her Corrupted form… all except for one thing.

Her remaining eye, the only one that retained its form even when she was healed. It was squinted, but not out of malice. A closer examination revealed that the corners of her eyes had thin stretches of skin binding the edges of the lids together as if her eye was going melt shut. He didn't know which concept disgusted him more: the spikes bursting out from the depths of her eye sockets or her losing her eyes altogether and the spikes protruding from the blank skin in its place.

"Jasper…"

Jasper snarled softly in response and, to the boy's surprise, opened her mouth to say something, _"Ste… ven…"_

His eyes went wide in surprise as Jasper said his actual name for the first time. It sounded like the simple act of saying those two syllables was a painful, strenuous endeavour, but Steven couldn't help but smile up at her as stars entered his eyes. He put a hand to his chest as he spoke. "Yeah! That's right! Ste—Ven… well, Steven actually, but it's close enou…" He was cut off when a loud, deep growl of pain emitted from her throat and her legs faltered slightly.

"H-h… he… _help… m—me…"_ She let out a scream of agony that was crossed with a monstrous roar.

Steven's smile fell and the stars disappeared. "Don't worry! I—I will, just… just be patient! I… actually wanted to talk to you."

"No…" Jasper choked out.

"No? Oh, right!"

Steven licked his palm and pressed it to Jasper's gem, but a second passed and she abruptly recoiled with shrill, pained growl, stumbling backwards. Despite her wolf-like appearance, she was a perfect fit in the hole and the walls didn't allow her to fall. Steven cried out as Jasper thrashed her clawed paws and raked them across the ground, growling and roaring in a pained frenzy. Finally, she fell, more or less, silent, crouching close to the floor and raking her claws through her mane.

"Jasper! Jasper, I-I'm sorry! I thought it would help!"

Jasper roared furiously at him. _"L… Liar…"_

"What? No! No, Jasper, don't do this! Please!"

With a growl, she lashed out at him, forcing him to duck with a startled cry. At this point, tears were welling up in his eyes again. Thanks to his small size, Steven had plenty of room for error in the hole as Jasper mindlessly attacked him. He finally stood up straight and held off Jasper's furiously snapping jaws with his shield, crouching on the ground and shielding his entire, balled up body with it as tears began streaming from his eyes again, blurring his visions.

"N-No… it—it can't end like this." Steven whimpered. He yelped as Jasper used her claws to break his shield in two, causing it to disappear. "It _won't_ end like this!" He jumped back to avoid another attempted strike from her claws, before charging straight towards her. **"Jasper!"** She let out a questioning snarl as she watched him blindly, having since lost her single eye to her Corruption. She stepped back once as Steven rushed her.

He didn't have his healing spit at the ready. He didn't have his shield or Rose's sword. He had nothing… but himself.

 _"Here! I! Come!"_

Before Jasper had a chance to dodge it, he sprang forward and latched onto her raised foreleg, pulling it close to him. Jasper struggled to pull her foreleg free of his grasp and furiously snarled and roared at him. Even as the claws on her opposite foot relentlessly tore at Steven's flesh, he didn't let go. In fact, he only squeezed her tighter. She didn't begin to relax a bit until she felt his streaming tears begin to drip onto her skin and roll futilely off the edge.

"You don't have to do this anymore, Jasper! You don't have to fight!" Steven cried. "I—I know what's happening now, Jasper. I know why I can't heal you."

Jasper grunted in confusion.

"You're so full of negativity. Grief because of what happened to your Diamond, fear because of your Corruption, but, most of all… hatred. Because of me, because of the Crystal Gems, but because of you too! You—You hate yourself, Jasper… but, don't worry, I—I can help you fix that!" He forced a sad smile as he closed his eyes, tears continuing to fall from them, still firmly hugging Jasper's leg. "You may act like a savage brute that doesn't care about anything and lives only to fight, but… but I know that's not true! You were happy once, you thought about something that wasn't endless fighting and war once!" He felt Jasper tense up and he finished with, "Back when you still served Pink Diamond."

He paused momentarily, waiting for a reaction from the Corrupted Gem. She said nothing, she did nothing, so he continued. "You were happyonce, Jasper! I know that, after five thousand years, it's probably really hard to remember but… you were. Can you remember back that far now, Jasper? When you were optimistic and content with your life and everything that happened around you! When you were happy with… yourself, with who you were!"

A few long seconds passed. Steven tried to jerk her leg away from Steven again and snarled softly at him, seeming to become fed up with his speech.

"Ah! J-Jasper, no! Please, just listen to me! Just let me…!"

Then, a new voice interrupted his desperate pleas. "It's been such a long time since you've felt that way, Jasper." Steven glanced over his shoulder as Amethyst cautiously approached. She hung her head, refusing to look anyone in the eye. "It was so long ago, since the last time you really felt... happy, that it's probably really hard to remember. It feels so foreign to you now, maybe a little scary even, that you choose to just... push that feeling away now instead of embracing it. After you lost Pink Diamond, you felt like... you felt like you've been in a downward spiral ever since. Being trapped in a toxic Fusion like Malachite, being beaten over and over again, being Corrupted... at this point, it probably seems like there's no possible way things could turn out better for you in the end. But, the truth is, you're not the only one who feels that way.

"We've all been there before, at one time or another in our lives. Back when I emerged from Prime after the Gem War, I was alone, because the other Amethysts had already gone back to Homeworld. I thought I was doomed to live there alone for the rest of eternity, with nothing but a bunch of rocks to keep me company. I thought my life was over ever since the day it started, but the thing is, it wasn't. As hopeless as everything seemed for a couple of centuries, it finally took a turn for the better when Rose showed up and found me there. As hopeless as things may seem, they can still get better in the end. You just have to give it that chance."

"And we can help you with that, Jasper." Steven added once Amethyst had trailed off. "Please, you don't have to hurt anymore. And if you do, then you can do with us! You can do it with your friends!"

Steven tilted his head up and forced a weak, but sincere smile up at the towering Corrupted Gem, waiting for something, anything to happen. For a long time, nothing did. She remained eerily quiet and still; they couldn't even hear the sounds of her breathing, which would've been concerning if she hadn't been a Gem that had no need to do so. Steven exchanged a nervous glance with Amethyst as the lavender Quartz hesitantly stepped beside him, staring up at Jasper and looking even more concerned for her than Steven did. Then, she glanced towards Steven and, after a moment of hesitation, lifted her hand towards him, her palm facing him. Steven could only look at her, tilting his head in slight confusion, before it finally clicked with him.

Amethyst grimaced in disgust as he leaned forward and licked her palm, shuddering softly before turning to face Jasper once more. Jasper responded by turning her head in Amethyst's direction with a grunt, letting a low snarl rumble in her throat, but Amethyst didn't allow it to dissuade her. She squeezed her indigo eyes shut and turned her head away, reaching up and pushing her palm against Jasper's gm, prompting a startled growl from the Corruption. Steven let out a small gasp as she began struggling again, squeezing her leg a bit tighter, waiting for his healing spit to take effect. But Jasper wasn't being quite as patient. She began struggling and growling again, trying in desperation to pull from Amethyst's touch, but the purple Gem wouldn't let her, keeping her hand pressed firmly to the gemstone.

"C'mon, sis," Amethyst said in a low voice that Steven barely heard. "just—just let us help you." He couldn't help but notice how downcast she was beginning to look as they both stared up at Jasper.

Tears began to form in Steven's eyes as he looked at Amethyst, opening his mouth to say something, but he was cut off when he fell straight through Jasper's leg as her form became engulfed in a brilliant white light. When he fell, the light from his gemstone abruptly went out, but as Jasper changed her form, he didn't need it anymore. Steven and Amethyst both had stars in their eyes, the latter looking on in shock as if she were genuinely surprised that their attempt had worked, while Steven looked on eagerly as the light faded away again.

Jasper sat on her knees, her eye closed for a long time.

Once he got onto his feet again, Steven hesitantly stepped towards the Quartz, holding out a slightly trembling hand toward her. "H-Hey… Jasper?"

Her eye snapped open abruptly, seemingly glowing in the darkness. In the same instant, her gaze travelled from the overcooked Amethyst to the half-Gem boy, before she reached forward and grabbed onto Steven, pulling him towards her and prompting a startled shout from him.

"Steven!" Amethyst cried out. Her gemstone glowed as she grabbed the hilt of her whip, preparing to summon it, but the light faded when she realized something. Her whip, in the middle of summoning, disappeared and she activated the flashlight from her gem to confirm what she had seen, the lavender glow beaming onto Jasper and Steven. She couldn't help but smile as she looked at them.

Jasper's huge arms were wrapped tightly around Steven's much smaller form, hugging him close to her chest. Her head was lowered, her single eye closed. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't really frowning either. Steven looked around, his eyes wide and round, stunned by her sudden uncharacteristic action. He looked up at her, then smiled and pulled his arms free of her grasp, eagerly returning her embrace. Well, to the best of his ability anyway. He jumped slightly when he felt something else and looked down to find Amethyst joining in the hug. Jasper either didn't notice or just didn't mind or care one way or another.

Steven closed his eyes and returned to hugging the half-Corrupted Quartz.

In the midst of the Gems' group hug, Jasper opened her mouth and speak softly, whispering into Steven's ear two short, simple words. They meant a lot to him nevertheless.

"Thank you."

 **Whoo! And that concludes chapter six! And yes, from here on out Jasper will stay uncorrupted... sort of, but explaining what I mean would be too spoilery. I really hope I got Amethyst's characterization right... or at least close; she's always been the one I struggle to write the most. That's why she seldom ever appears or has any lines in this story. On the subject of characterization, no, Jasper isn't going to suddenly turn into a sappy, blubbering idiot once she's officially redeemed.**

 **I was thinking, if she ever becomes redeemed in canon, she'd be an anti-hero more than anything else. Unlike the rest of the Crystal Gems, she'll prefer shattering gems over poofing and bubbling them away, and will still retain several of the Homeworld ideologies beat into her head by Yellow Diamond. For example, she'll have a love/hate relationship with Amethyst and Pearl and will... tolerate Garnet. At best. Steven is her moral compass and keeps her and the Gems from killing each other half the time. Don't worry though, I've got the whole arc planned out in which she improves her relationships with the Crystal Gems, Peridot, and, yes, even Lapis Lazuli.**

 **I think I'll have the most fun with the latter. That is all. XD**


	7. Chapter VII - Propositions

**New spoilers for this one! This time, the spoiler alert is for the most recent Stevenbomb, also known as the Wanted Arc. I know it's been a while since it aired, but I don't want to risk spoiling it for someone who hasn't seen it yet.**

For the first time in a long time, the Beta Kindergarten was calm.

It was as if the constant tenseness that always hung so thickly in the air had disappeared all at once.

Several yards deep into the canyon wall, two-and-a-half Gems were engaging in a group hug, holding each other firmly in the darkness, not wanting to let go.

"Thank you." the half-Corrupted Quartz soldier whispered. For once, she actually meant it. It wasn't dripping with sarcasm or hostility as it normally would. She was being sincere, and she realized that that actually felt… good.

Steven said nothing in response, only hugging the huge Gem tighter and pushing his face against her chest. Amethyst had her arms wrapped around Jasper's left one and pulled it close. She had felt bad, even a bit guilty, about the horrible fate that the Quartz had met that day. She couldn't suppress the tears of happiness forming in her eyes as she stood there. Silence reigned over the three Quartzes for about twenty seconds before Jasper finally released her grasp on Steven.

Not expecting it, Steven let out a startled cry and fell onto his back on the glass floor of the tunnel. Taking her action as a hint, Amethyst let go of Jasper and stepped away, looking at the ground as her face burned a deep purple hue. Jasper didn't seem to notice or care as she let out a sigh, shifting her position and leaning against the wall of the tunnel, crossing her teal spotted arms and staring blankly at nothing in particular. Steven and Amethyst exchanged concerned glances as Jasper sat there in silence, not looking at either of them. She had a solemn, distant look in her golden eye, but at least she wasn't shouting at or attacking them anymore.

She lowered her arms just enough to look at the Yellow Diamond insignia on her chest. She stared at it for a long time, reaching up with a clawed finger and running it across the icon's length.

Jasper winced when she felt something touching her shoulder and looked down to see Steven staring up at her, a sympathetic look in his dark eyes, forcing a smile up at her. She said nothing and turned away, sighing, much to the boy's dismay.

"Are you okay, Jasper?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, why the long face?" Amethyst added as she leaned against the opposite wall, forcing a sly smirk at her.

Jasper didn't respond for a long time, but, exhaling sharply, she finally spoke up, "Don't worry about it. You got what you wanted, so you can leave me alone now." Her tone was soft and completely emotionless, but Steven saw right through her. Something was wrong with her, even now that her Corruption was healed, something that he hoped would be permanent, she still seemed so… sad, an expression that felt strange and unfamiliar on the Quartz soldier.

"But… that's not true!" Steven retorted. _"You_ wanted this too, you told me."

"Yeah, so what?" Jasper said bluntly. "It's done and over now. You can go home, back to your… base,or whatever."

Steven looked over at Amethyst, who just shrugged, then looked back up at the bigger Gem. "Jasper, don't you have anywhere else to go?"

Jasper scoffed. "What do youthink? It's not like I can just get up and _walk_ back to Homeworld, y'know."

"Homeworld?" Amethyst cut in. "Heh, good luck getting back to Homeworld like _this."_

" _Amethyst!"_ Steven exclaimed. His expression read a mixture of annoyance and surprise.

"No, she's right." Jasper said listlessly. "I _can't_ go back. Even if I had some means of returning to Homeworld, they'd never take me. Not… not like _this."_

Steven shot an accusatory glare at Amethyst, who gave him a weird look and shrugged sheepishly without a word. Jasper let out a sound that resembled a low snarl, and continued, still not looking at either of them, "I don't have a home here. This Kindergarten, this _hole_ is the closest thing I have." Steven opened his mouth to say something, but Jasper cut him off again, "I'm okay with it. I've never needed anything more." She smirked and chuckled bitterly under her breath.

"But it doesn't have to be, Jasper. Maybe… maybe you could join the Crystal Gems and…?" Steven suggested.

 _"Never!_ I'm enough of an embarrassment to Homeworld as it is…"

"Oh, come on, Jasper, just give it a chance! I'm sure you'll…"

Jasper snarled softly under her breath, frustration building up within her as she cut him off again, "Look, Ro… _Steven._ I don't want your help. I don't _need_ your help anymore!" She turned to face him, a startlingly angry look in her narrowed eye. Steven glanced nervously towards Amethyst as she silently summoned her whip, holding it coiled in her hand just to be safe. "I have _failed_ my mission, I failed my Diamond… I've failed _everyone!_ There's nothing left for me to do! Don't you understand?! At least _you_ have the luxury of having a home to go back to _,_ _I_ have nothing to speak of. I can never go back to Homeworld again… if I did, they'd have me shattered on sight."

Jasper looked at her arm, still covered in splotches and spikes. She caressed it with her opposite hand, a disgusted look etched onto her face, and turned away, closing her eye as she chuckled bitterly, sounding almost manic. "Look at me… I thought I was a brute before, but now… heh, _now_ I—I look like a monster." She grimaced as she ran her forefinger and thumb along the length of the spike where her right eye used to be. "I _am_ a monster…"

Steven paused for a moment, wondering what to say that wouldn't anger her even further. "That—That's not true, Jasper. Just because you _think_ it's over doesn't mean it _is!_ We could help you. _The Crystal Gems_ can help you, if you'd just give us a cha…"

" _No."_ Jasper said tersely. "It's _over_ for me, it has been since the very beginning, ever since… _she_ shattered Pink Diamond. I was made for _her,_ but without her, without the one I was created for, the one I owe my very _life_ to… I'm nothing. I don't even have Yellow Diamond anymore… or that Peridot, or Lapis… or _anyone!_ Don't you understand?! I have _nothing…_ I _am_ nothing, and that's all I'll _ever_ be!" Steven took a couple of cautious steps back as Jasper slammed her fists hard to the glassy floor. Both he and Amethyst cried out as the glass shattered beneath her weight, sending the glittering shards flying in every direction. Steven crouched down and shielded himself with his shield, while Amethyst used her whip to deflect many of the shards flying in her direction.

Once the ricocheting shards had settled, Steven and Amethyst took the time to recover from the shock. Jasper was on her hands and knees again, facing the floor. Dissipating his shield, Steven stepped forward and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from his touch. Amethyst grimaced at the shards of glass scattered across the floor, cautiously avoiding them as she approached Jasper as well. Steven looked over at her for a second, and then spoke.

"But… you have _us_ now, Jasper. You don't needHomeworld anymore, you can just start a new life here with us! On _Earth!"_

"You don't understand." Jasper growled. "Joining the Crystal Gems, fighting for the cause of _Rose Quartz,_ my Diamond's _killer…_ it—it goes against everything I believe in, everything I've fought for everything I was _made_ for!" Jasper trailed off, chuckling under her breath again, putting Steven a little on edge. "Heh-heh… wh-what would she even think of me now?" Steven looked over at Amethyst who shrugged again, then turned to Jasper as she shifted onto her knees.

"You mean… Yellow?"

"I mean _Pink._ What would _she_ think of me now? Half Corrupted, stranded on Earth, sitting here in my old exit hole trying to negotiate with an overcooked Amethyst and the spawn of the Gem who took her life. She used to think I was the best of the best, that I was the only good thing to come out of this—this _mess_ …" Amethyst's eyes widened at those words, but it went unnoticed. "…how would she look at me _now_ I wonder?" Jasper's manic smirk disappeared. "With disappointment, with hatred, with… _disgust."_ She lowered her voice as she added, _"_ If it was anyone else, then I know _I_ would…"

"Look, Jasper, I—I don't know what Pink Diamond would think of you now. But she… probably would've turned her back on you. Just like all the others." Steven yelped as Jasper grabbed him by his arm and jerked him up to eye level, a look of rage burning in her eye.

"Don't you _dare_ pretend to know Pink Diamond! You'll _never_ know her like I did! Got it!?"

"Ah! Okay, okay, I got it!" Steven pleaded. "B-But what I mean is _we_ won't give up on you, and _we_ won't turn on you just because you're different now! But Homeworld… they _will,_ we both know this! And that isn't what you want, you don't want to be surrounded by Gems who will shatter you on sight over this… r-right?!"

Jasper looked at the floor, still strewn with glass shards, an unreadable look in her eye. She still hadn't put Steven down and he could only squirm helplessly in her grasp. He looked over at Amethyst in a silent plea for help, but she seemed to find the occurrence mildly amusing.

"Uh, Jasper? Could you… put me down?"

Without hesitation, she did as he asked. Literally. She unfurled her fingers and sent Steven falling unceremoniously to the floor. Amethyst snickered softly until he jumped up, crying out in pain and grabbing his bandaged arm, caressing it gently in an attempt to make the pain subside after he landed on it. She tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the slightly blood-stained bandage wrapped around his forearm.

"What happened to you?" Amethyst asked.

"D-Don't you remember? I was attacked… by that Carnelian?"

Jasper's eye went wide at that and she silently mouthed the name of the Corrupted Quartz he was talking about.

"A Carnelian?" Jasper inquired.

"Yeah, she attacked me. We had to poof her because she was really, _really…_ uh…"

"Loco?" Amethyst suggested, making the "crazy" gesture beside her head with one finger.

Jasper scoffed dismissively and shrugged it off. Steven looked at her in confusion for a second, then decided to shrug it off as well.

"So, about my… offer." Steven began.

"Don't say it."

"Come on, Jasper!" Steven said, almost whining. "Why can't you just give us a chance?"

"Why should I?!" Jasper snapped.

"Because _we_ gave _you_ a chance!"

Jasper's eye went wide and she didn't say anything for a while. She shifted back against the wall and closed her eye, crossing her arms again.

"I _can't._ It… it's against everything I stand for! Everything I've ever livedfor! Joining Rose Quartz's band of rebels is a _disgrace_ to Gems everywhere."

Steven's hopeful expression fell as he looked up at her. He didn't even bother challenging her statement about the Crystal Gems, he knew that nothing anyone said would ever be able to change her mind. Not to mention it was a foolish decision to try and convert her so soon; she let him heal her, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up everything she's believed in to join his side. They should've at least been thankful that Jasper was being passive towards them and not trying to emotionally break them down every time she opened her mouth.

Steven glanced over at Amethyst for a second. The small Quartz didn't seem to notice, only staring solemnly up at Jasper. The Gem in question continued to sit there against the wall, arms crossed and eye closed, looking as if she were asleep. Steven exchanged glances between both of them and stepped over to Amethyst, flinching when he nearly stepped on a precariously situated shard of glass. He paused and shakily stepped over it, shooting a nervous smile at it as he passed by.

Amethyst blinked and looked over at Steven as he cautiously made his way towards her.

"So," she began. "what now?"

Steven didn't look at her, a disappointed look in his eyes. "I—I don't know, Amethyst. I wanna help her _more,_ but she won't let me." He lowered his voice, just loud enough for Amethyst to hear, but too quiet for Jasper to. "She—She feels like she doesn't _deserve_ my help, or anyone's. This is what made her Corrupted in the first place." Amethyst rolled her eyes and scoffed at his words.

" _D_ _uh._ I was there, y'know, I heard the whole spiel between you two."

"Oh, right. But I don't know what to do now. I don't want to leave her _here,_ but she doesn't want to be part of the Crystal Gems either. What if… wh-what if she hurts someone while we're gone? Or… what if she just Corrupts again and we don't know it?" Tears beginning to form in the corners of Steven's eyes and put a trembling fist against his bandaged chest. "I-I'm worried about her, Amethyst. Really…"

"Don't be, man! Jasper's a big, bad Quartz soldier! You don't needto worry about her!"

Steven glanced over his shoulder towards Jasper, then turned back to Amethyst. He didn't look very convinced, so she unfolded her arms and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, a rare gesture of kindness to come from the normally reckless, playful lavender Gem.

"We'll figure this out, dude. We always do."

He hesitated for a couple of seconds, then looked up at Amethyst with a smile. "Yeah, because the Crystal Gems never give up on anything. Right?"

She looked a bit confused at first, then reflected his smile back at him. "Right!"

Steven turned and looked up at Jasper. She looked asleep and, for a second, he wondered if she was. He cautiously stepped towards her and reached up with a hand, resting it on her arm.

"J-Jasper?" She jerked away with an irritable grunt. "Jasper… could we, maybe, convince you to… come to the Crystal Temple?"

Jasper was silent for ten seconds more, and Steven opened his mouth to clarify, but Jasper cut him off with a terse, "Why?"

"Wh… oh. What if… what if you got attacked again? You can't summon your weapon anymore! You can hardly _stand!_ You'd be defenseless! What if you retreated into your gem or worse: had your gem cracked again? Or _shattered?_ Please, Jasper, I can't let that happen to you! I—I just… I _can't!"_ His voice broke slightly on the last word. _  
_

Jasper let out a snort of laughter and smirked. "Oh, really? Who would miss me if I shattered out here?"

"I would!" Steven pleaded, looking up at her with glimmering, tearful puppy-dog eyes.

Jasper scoffed and glanced down at him out the corner of her eye. "You _think_ you care about me, runt, but you don't. I _know_ you don't, because no-onewould care about a brute like me."

"You're nota brute, Jasper."

"Well…" Amethyst chimed in softly, but quickly fell silent when Steven shot her an uncharacteristically venomous glare.

"You're just… misunderstood." Steven said as he faced Jasper again. "But we can help you. Come on, just let us…"

He reached out a hand, offering it to her, but with a snarl she batted it away. "I said _no!_ You've done all you can for me! There's nothing else that can be done."

Steven's face fell as she hung her head, her tone becoming deeply solemn, "You may've fixed my Corruption, Steven…but you can't fix _me!_ So, just—just leave me here, forget about me."

"But Jasper…"

"I said…" She grabbed him by his unbandaged arm and, before he had a chance to struggle or writhe in her grasp, she violently threw him forward, punctuating it with an enraged, _"LEAVE!"_

"Steven!" Amethyst cried out instinctively. She glanced down at her whip and, in an instant, lashed it forward. The end of it tied itself around Steven's bandaged torso and she jerked it back a split second before he would've tumbled from the hole and onto the ground. He skidded to the floor of the tunnel with a pained moan and Amethyst quickly dissipated her whip, rushing to his side, a concerned look in her eyes as she looked down at him. "Steven? Jasper, what the heck was _that_ for?!"

"I told you to _leave."_ Jasper said calmly, but coldly. "And my words still stand… unless you want me to _make_ you leave." She raised a clenched fist, but there was a strange look in her eye as she stared at it.

Amethyst opened her mouth to retort, but Steven staggered upright and cut her off.

"Okay, Jasper, we will leave." he said coolly. "But we're—" He glanced over at Amethyst as she gave him an unamused look out the corner of her eye. _"_ — _I'm_ coming back." Jasper remained silent, so Steven softly added, "Whether you want me to or not."

* * *

The Warp Pad rang out as Steven and Amethyst returned to the Crystal Temple. Amethyst had a hand on her hip, her head tilted to the side with a look of agitation in her eyes. She knew what was coming. She looked up for a second as Pearl strode towards them from the couch, an angry look etched on her face, and Amethyst crossed her arms with an annoyed sigh, while Steven glanced at her, unsure of what was wrong.

"Thereyou two are!" Pearl shouted.

Amethyst rolled her eyes and muttered, "Here we go." It went unheard by the skinny Gem.

"We've been looking all over for you two! Where on Earth were you?!" Pearl asked. She stood in front of the Warp Pad and crossed her arms, staring sternly at the two of them.

"We were… w-we were, um…" Steven stuttered, trying to think of a justifiable lie, so Amethyst spoke in his place.

"We were at the Beta Kindergarten last night! So what?!"

"'So wha—'…?" Pearl scoffed in disgust at the young Gem. "Steven is still hurt and you dragged him out to Beta _anyway?!"_

" _I_ didn't–"

"No! Don't blame her, Pearl! It was _me,_ I went to Beta and Amethyst followed me!" Steven interrupted.

"Wha…?" Pearl went to say something, before face-palming with a sigh. "Oh, Steven… your injuries aren't even scarred over yet! Do you have any idea what could've happened?"

"Yes! I _knew the risks,_ Pearl, I've already told you this!" Steven retorted, becoming increasingly frustrated himself. "But—But it actually worked this time! Jasper's…"

"Oh… this again." Pearl muttered in annoyance under her breath. "Steven, now's not the time to…"

"He's telling you the truth, Pearl."

She let out a gasp as Garnet approached her from behind. None of them had even heard her come in.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Pearl asked her, glancing at the Fusion over her shoulder.

"I saw Steven and Amethyst going to the Beta Kindergarten last night." she deadpanned.

"You… b-but… but why didn't you stop them?!"

"Because I saw Steven helping her. I saw him _healing_ her."

Pearl went tense at those words. "But—But _Rose_ couldn't heal Corrupted Gems. She tried, over and over again, but they always went back to being monsters! There's…"

"They're not monsters, Pearl." Steven chimed in. "They're just… Gems that need our help."

Pearl opened and closed her mouth, then let out a sigh. "Okay, so you healed her… and you just left her out there? _Unsupervised?!"_

"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk to you guys about."

Pearl opened her mouth, but Garnet cut her off. "And what is that, Steven?"

He looked over at Amethyst who only returned his look. Then, she sighed and spoke up, "Well, here on Earth, Jasper doesn't have anywhere else to go. She's just staying in her old exit hole back in that Kindergarten… it's kind of pitiful to look at actually." Once she finished, she made a gesture at Steven for him to continue on with their story. He gave her a look of mild annoyance and remained silent momentarily to see what Pearl or Garnet had to say. When they were both silent, he continued without argument.

"We were thinking, maybe she could… stay… here?"

"Absolutely not!" Pearl shouted without a missing a beat. "There's no way we're letting that—that _monster_ stay in our Temple! She'd probably shatter all of us as soon as our backs were turned!"

She went to continue, but Garnet shushed her, putting a finger to Pearl's thin lips, catching her off-guard. Garnet stared in silence at Pearl for a second or two, then turned to face Amethyst and Steven.

"Steven."

Steven winced slightly. Garnet sounded a bit stern. He never liked it when she was a bit stern. "Yeah, Garnet?"

The Fusion was silent for a few tense seconds, then said, "At the very least, we can give her a place to stay until she can find somewhere else to go."

" _What?!"_ Pearl cried out.

"We know that the Barn is out of the question, and it isn't safe to leave her out on the loose like this." Garnet explained, as calm as ever.

"But what if… I—I mean, it isn't safe to let her stay _here_ either!" Pearl argued. "What if she tries something?! A-And with that Warp Pad, she could get anywhere in the world in seconds!"

"She can't activate the Warp Pad because she's still partially Corrupted, and she's considerably weaker than she used to be. It will take some time for her to regain her strength again. She won't be trying anything anytime soon."

"But…"

"That's final, Pearl… as long as Jasper chooses to cooperate." Garnet turned to face Pearl, staring the pale Gem down through her visor. "Just remember. Jasper is not our enemy now, she is a Gem that needs our help. Nothing more, nothing less. At the time, she's weakened, not only from the amount of time she was bubbled, but because of her partial Corruption as well. Because of this, she won't be able to hurt anyone. Understood?"

Pearl opened her mouth to respond, but chose to nod a couple of times instead.

"Good." Without another word, Garnet started walking towards the Warp Pad and as she stepped upon it said, "Steven, I want you to come with me." She smiled down at him. "You'll never know if I might need a little extra protection." Grinning eagerly and with stars in his eyes, Steven rushed to join her. Pearl looked on in concern as he prepared to activate the warp-stream.

"Um… Steven?"

"Yeah, Pearl?" he asked.

"…Be careful." Pearl said simply. Amethyst nudged her in slight irritation.

"He _will,_ P, c'mon! He's not a baby anymore, y'know!"

Steven said something, but neither of them caught it. Steven crossed his arms over one another and outstretched them in the air, grinning widely up at the Fusion.

In a blue flash of light, they both disappeared. At the same time, Pearl covered her mouth and turned away, stifling quiet sobs. Amethyst looked up at her in surprise and took an uncomfortable step back.

"Well, at least Steven isn't." she remarked. She crossed her arms and forced herself to keep her composure. She glanced briefly up at Pearl and back-and-forth between her and the Warp Pad. Once she was sure that they were alone, her irritated expression morphed into a concerned, slightly sympathetic one and she stepped towards her, resting a comforting lavender hand on the Gem's back, too short to reach her shoulder.

Pearl turned in surprise at her touch, her face streaked with tears. Amethyst wasn't sure what to say, so she forced a comforting smile up at her friend instead.

Meanwhile, Garnet and Steven glided through the glowing blue warp-stream as it twisted and turned throughout the vastness of Warp Space on its way to the destination its occupants had chosen for it. At first, both of them said nothing and merely waited until they reached their destination, but the perpetual silence became awkward… _fast._

Garnet was used to being silent and mysterious, but Steven, on the other hand, was not. A question in his mind begged to be asked and, when he wasn't forcing a nervous stare at nothing in particular, he shot unsure glances up at the much taller Fusion Gem, as if wondering whether breaking their silence was an acceptable move or not. For a moment, he reached forward and put his finger through the wall of the stream, flinching at the intense cold beyond it.

Recoiling his hand, Steven looked up at Garnet again; she was still quiet and as still as a statue, hardly acknowledging his presence. It would be creepy to someone who wasn't familiar with this behaviour. He let out a soft, defeated sigh that made her glance over and, finally, he chimed in confidently while she was already paying attention.

"Uh… hey, Garnet?"

"Hm? What is it, Steven?"

"I was wondering… do you think Jasper will still be there?" The Fusion cocked her head in slight confusion, so Steven clarified. "I mean, what if she left? She's not Corrupted anymore, so…"

"She couldn't have gotten far, Steven." Garnet reassured him. "Her Corruption has taken a toll on her. Not just on her mental state, but on her physical state as well."

"Oh, so… that's why she can't walk anymore?"

"It will take time, but she will be able-bodied again." Garnet corrected. "Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but she will. Eventually."

They both fell silent for a few seconds, then Steven spoke up again, "Will we still find her in her hole, though? Can you use your future vision to see if she's still there?"

She didn't immediately respond, tilting her head forward and pushing two fingers against the surface of her visor. The warp-stream disappeared with a blue flash and a distinct ring, giving way to the warm, sandy air and the towering, hole-filled canyon walls of Beta. Steven looked around momentarily, then looked up expectantly at Garnet when she finally turned to look at him.

"She's not there."

"Wh-What?!" Steven exclaimed. "What do you mean she's not there?! She said she'd stay put!" He opened his mouth to continue, but Garnet silenced him, raising an extended index finger to his mouth.

"You asked if she was still in her exit hole." Garnet calmly reminded him. "I didn't say that she was no longer here in the Kindergarten."

"Oh. Then… can't you use your future vision to…?"

"This is _your_ mission, Steven, not mine. And thus, it is your job to figure out what became of her."

"What…?" Steven said, bordering on a whine yet again. "But—But I can't see the future like _you_ can! I don't even know where to begin!"

"Calm down. Just take a moment to think about it, Steven. Where do _you_ think she might be?"

"I—I don't know." Steven admitted in defeat. "I thought she was going to be in her hole, but… you already said that she wasn't." He took the time to scan his surroundings, seeing no sign of the half-Corrupted soldier in the immediate area. He let out a sigh as he added, "She's not here, either." He jumped slightly as Garnet rested a thin red and black hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look up at her with curious dark eyes.

" _Think about it,_ Steven." Garnet echoed. She retained her stoic demeanour as she looked down at him.

Steven looked up at her, a nervous look in his eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, but Garnet covered his mouth with a hand, repeating her three-word mantra. Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Steven sighed and closed his eyes, curling his fingers into two fists at his sides. He tried to clear his mind and not focus on much of anything except for the orange and red Gem, picturing her disfigured, half-Corrupted form in his mind to the best of his ability and picturing the orange scenery of Beta around her form.

At first, he didn't see much of anything except for the empty blackness behind his eyelids. Then, what appeared to be tiny motes of colour came swimming into his vision. Several of them came together to form a new, but familiar scene. It was still Beta, but it was a different section of it.

It felt as if his eyes were open, but they weren't. Not _really._ He was seeing through someone else's eyes instead… or _eye._ He could see nothing but the blackness of sightlessness through his right eye and a dull, throbbing pain constantly pulsed within it. He crawled on all fours like an animal but, before long, he stopped and looked down, balancing himself on both knees as he looked down at the ground. There laid a small pile of gem shards of teal and pink hues. He reached down with a muscular, clawed hand and grabbed one of them between his forefinger and his thumb, lifting it to eye level. His hand was yellowish-orange, covered in ugly splotches of teal and sickly green spikes.

He turned it over in "his" fingers, examining it closely, when something suddenly burst forth from it. The massive form of a teal, canine-esque monster covered in pink rings and splotches materialized from the single shard in a monstrous, ghostly form. Letting out an unearthly roar, it leapt straight at his face, huge claws outstretched before her.

Steven subconsciously let out a startled cry and stumbled backwards; he would've fallen off of the Warp Pad if Garnet hadn't caught him. Her touch made him jump, but it spontaneously snapped the hybrid boy back into reality. He opened his eyes with a gasp, blinking several times and reaching out a hand, waving it in the air in front of him to make sure it was his own, to make sure _this_ was real. He looked up and smiled slightly when he saw Garnet staring down at him, a soft smile playing on her own lips. He tilted his head down again and stared at a random, deformed hole in the sandstone wall. His smile fell away and he pulled away from Garnet's grasp, adopting a more determined, confident facial expression.

"I—I saw it…" Steven said. He vaguely felt like it wasn't himself speaking when he opened his mouth, but he continued regardless, "I know where she is!"

* * *

The path they took felt eerily familiar. It felt like the pain from his wounds worsened as Steven recalled encountering that Corrupted Carnelian as they went around the corner of the curving sandstone wall.

Once they got to the opposite end of the wall, stopping in their tracks when they heard something close by, but sounding too quiet and muffled to really distinguish. Steven went to peek around the corner, but hesitated when he heard Garnet summoning her gauntlets as she stepped up beside him. His eyes immediately went wide and he spoke up in a hushed tone of voice.

"No, no! I don't want her to think we're here to fight!"

"My presence alone will be enough to put her on edge." said the Fusion as she stepped back a couple of inches. "That's why I'm going to stay here while you talk to her. I have my gauntlets summoned just in case she tries anything." She interlocked her fingers and stretched them forward, causing them to make an audible crackling sound. He looked up at her for a long time, wondering if it'd be a good idea to summon his shield. Deciding against it, he stepped forward and peeked around the corner of the wall.

Jasper was there, sure enough, and, for once, she hadn't reverted back to being fully Corrupted. He had feared she would've overheard the hushed conversation they'd had, but he soon realized why she hadn't. She was crouched down on the ground, staring at a small object in front of her. A bit of closer inspection revealed it to be an amber Gem bubble; he had previously assumed Corrupted Gems lost all of their unique abilities and powers, including the ability to bubble objects. She rolled it back and forth beneath a clawed hand like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, whispering… _something_ to it, but he couldn't make it out.

He feared trying to move closer would alert the Quartz to his presence… then his gaze fell onto the spike protruding from the right side of her face, replacing the eye on that side.

When he dreamt himself into Jasper's body when she was still Corrupted, she was totally blind but navigated through all of her other senses. He assumed there was something similar going on now.

Dropping down onto his hands and knees, Steven tried to be as quiet as possible as he crawled across the ground on Jasper's right side, not stopping until he reached a sandstone formation not far from her. He nervously peered over the edge and smiled silently when he found that Jasper was none the wiser. She was cradling the bubble between both hands, her chaotic blonde hair mostly blocking his view of it, keeping him from making out its contents.

"… nothing but a sorry _excuse_ for a Gem ever since the day you emerged! _"_ rasped Jasper, directing the harsh words at no-one in particular. "You were Corrupted, you became a _monster._ because that's what you _deserved! Shattering_ is what you deserved!" Steven let out an audible gasp at those words and hastily ducked down again, covering his mouth when he heard Jasper snarl a surprised, "What?"

Steven sat against the formation, his body tense, covering his mouth with both hands and squeezing his eyes shut as he anxiously awaited the consequences of his action. He heard strange sounds, intermittent shuffling and heavy stomps against the ground, moving closer and closer to him, like Jasper was half walking, half dragging herself towards where she heard the mysterious sound. His gem glowed as he prepared to summon his shield when, suddenly, everything fell silent. He sat there anxiously for a good ten seconds, but heard nothing.

Steven wasn't quite ready to let his guard down as he scrambled onto his knees and grabbed the edge of the rock formation. He peeked over the edge and nearly tumbled backwards when he found himself eye-to-eye with the livid, half-Corrupted soldier staring him down just on the other side. He tried to jump up, but staggered and lost his footing instead, falling clumsily onto his back with a grunt. Before he even had a chance to get up again, Jasper pulled herself up and over the formation. In an instant, she had a clawed hand on his bandaged chest, shifting a lot of weight to it, while she continued to support herself with her knees and opposite hand.

Steven whimpered and writhed weakly beneath Jasper's heavy grasp, but the tiniest of movements only aggravated his injuries further. He felt her claws digging into the layered bandages and pricking his battered flesh beneath it. He suppressed a cry of pain for fear of alerting Garnet and prompting her to attack the Quartz.

"I toldyou to stay away." Jasper snarled at her captive. She dug her claws in a little deeper, ripping a pained whine from Steven's throat as if he were an injured animal. "Why…? Why couldn't you just _stay away?!_ I don't want your help anymore, Ro… Stev… _ugh,_ whatever you are! I don't _need_ your help anymore!" Steven could only look up at her with teary, pleading dark eyes until she loosened her grip a little, giving the pain a chance to partially subside. He was unsure of how she'd react, but he opted to change the subject instead.

"Jasper… that Gem bubble. Wh-Where did it come from…?"

Jasper's eye went wide, then she reached around with her free hand and removed the bubble from where it'd been hiding in her thick, tangled mess of hair. She allowed it to hover inches off of her palm between them. Steven let out a startled gasp while Jasper stared it down with a bitter look. Within the bubble's amber confines were teal and pink gem shards, floating in a vague hexagonal shape. He could still see where the spotted patterns used to connect, as if it were some gruesome jigsaw puzzle.

"You mean this thing? Go ahead, take it. I have no use for it." Jasper said dismissively.

"Th-That's… those are the shards of that Corrupted Gem…" Steven whimpered. "Jasper, wh-why… why did you _shatter_ her?!"

"Nothing of value was lost." Jasper said, retaining her eerily stoic tone. "Just another Gem that lost its mind and turned into a wild, savage animal, mere _wildlife_ compared to the likes of, heh… the Gem _I_ used to -one will miss it. In fact, I probably did your world a favourby purging it of this _thing's_ existence!" Her eye became hard and intense again as she continued, "Now,I asked _you_ a question. _Why do you keep coming back here!?"_

"But she wasn't a wild animal, Jasper! She used to be a Gem, j-just like y…"

"Answer me, _runt!"_ She tightened her grasp on Steven again, making him cry out painfully.

"Uh… b-be—because… I—I have an offer for you, Jasper." Steven began, struggling to keep his composure. "A—A new one… I—I talked to the Gems, they…"—he remembered what Pearl and Amethyst had said—"th-they want to help… by giving you a place to stay." Her eye widened in genuine surprise, as if she never expected to hear those words. Steven forced a smile up at her through his pain. "…th-think of it as a—a place to call home… until you find s-somewhere… _better."_

Jasper seemed to breathe a little harder as she crouched over him, a look of disbelief in her eye. Then, she turned away with a bitter scoff, suddenly releasing Steven altogether. He let out a relieved sigh as she did so, the pressure of her weight no longer crushing his chest and aggravating his existing injuries.

"I… I can't. I've already told you, I _can't!"_ Jasper snapped, still not facing him. "She… th-their leader shattered my Diamond. I'll _never_ forgive her for that for as long as I live!"

Steven's eyes went wide. "But _they_ didn't shatter Pink Diamond. They just followed the one who… oh." Steven trailed off and thought over his next words. Then, he remembered something, what Zircon had said about the shattering of Pink Diamond during that trial on Homeworld. Jasper had no idea. "Um… Jasper? Can I… c-can I… tell you something?" Jasper growled irritably and jerked her head up to look him in the eye, unsettling the hybrid boy.

" _I'm listening."_ she said. It wasn't friendly, nor did it sound very _willing._ She may as well have said "Do I even have a choice?"

"About the shattering of Pink Diamond, did you actually… _see_ it happen?"

"Of course I did, _runt!_ Plentyof Gems witnessed the shattering of Pink Diamond that day!" Jasper shouted in frustration. "Unless, of course, you think _you_ know more about that than I do."

"Well, not really. But there was another Gem on Homeworld that might _."_

Jasper's intense gaze fell and was replaced with another shocked one. "You… You remember Homeworld?"

"Yeah, of course I do! It was only a few days ago, after all." Steven said matter-of-factly. Jasper didn't seem very impressed. "I was… actually captured by two Gems that were here on Earth looking for human specimens. I was put on trial for the shattering of Pink Diamond and… I learned something new. Something that mightchange _everything!"_ Steven threw his hands theatrically into the air to emphasize the last word. Jasper situated herself into a casual sitting position, but she still looked indifferent.

"Oh, really?" She scoffed. _"I'll_ be the judge of that."

Steven gave her a strange look, but continued regardless. "Well… what if I told you that Rose Quartz _didn't_ shatter Pink Diamond?"

"And what in all the starsmade you think _that?!"_ Jasper said, suddenly becoming angry again. "What unintelligent, half-formed… _clod_ came up with thatconspiracy theory?! I saw Rose shatter her with my own two eyes! _Hundreds_ of Gems saw it! And you're telling me that what we witnessed right in front of us was nothing but a staged act?! _A fabricated lie!?"_

"B-But listen to me! _Please!_ There was a Zircon there, a—a blue Zircon." Steven began in increasing desperation. "She was defending me in the trial and she pointed out to everyone that Rose Quartz being the shatterer of Pink Diamond doesn't make any sense! Just—Just… think it over, Jasper, and then maybe you'll realize that too!"

"I know what I saw! We _all_ do!"

"But think about it! Rose Quartz was a notorious war criminal by that point in the Great Gem War, and all other Rose Quartzes had been bubbled away! There's no way she would've gotten close enough to Pink Diamond to break her gem, not without facing heavy resistance! She had Sapphires in her court that would've foreseen it, she had her Pearl that could've warned her and would've tried to defend her Diamond from an enemy like Rose!"

Jasper's eye was closed and she hung her head, half-heartedly repeating to herself, "I… _know_ what I saw."

"And what about her Agates? Her Rubies, her Amethysts, the other Jaspers? And what about _you,_ Jasper? How could Rose _ever_ have gotten close enough to shatter Pink Diamond with a Gem as powerful as _you_ on the front-lines? It—It just doesn't make any sense when you really think about it. I… I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, Jasper, b-but…" Steven trailed off, beginning to fathom just how Jasper might react to his words.

"Then what do you say _did_ happen? That Pink wasn't shattered at all?"

"That one of the other Diamonds betrayed her." Steven said those words quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. "I wish you didn't have to hear it from me, Jasper, but… facts are facts. There may be a traitor within the Diamond Authority."

Jasper was silent for a long time. Steven tried to read her facial expression, but it was completely blank. As unsettling as it was, he was a little amazed at how calm and collected she was being. He didn't try to force her to respond or bother her at all. The news, that one of the three remaining members of the Diamond Authority, the three Gems she'd dedicated her life to following the loss of Pink, had to be very hard to swallow. A full minute of silence hung between them before Steven reached a hand towards her, a concerned, almost scared look in his eyes.

"Jasper? A-Are you…?"

He was cut off as the Gem let out a roar. In an instant she'd latched onto him again and whipped around, slamming him against the rock formation, crushing his throat beneath her forearm. Steven writhed and struggled beneath her tight grasp, clawing futilely at her arm as his windpipe was closed almost entirely, the greenish spikes that protruded from her skin digging into and piercing the flesh of his neck, making it burn. He wanted to cry desperately for her to stop, to apologize, to call for help, to do _something,_ but all he could manage were pitiful, strangled whines and gasps.

" _Who are you to speak such blasphemy of the Diamond Authority?!_ _ **WHO!?"**_ Jasper screamed at him. "Zircons are _idiots,_ they rival the likes of _Rubies_ in their lack of intelligence, their _uselessness!_ I saw it with my own eyes, Rose Quartz penetrating the gemstone of _my Diamond_ with her sword's blade! Destroying her _forever!_ And some off-colour _Zircon,_ some traitorous _rebel_ wants to tell me to my face that I-I'm _lying?!"_

Steven's chest began to burn as his lungs screamed for oxygen, his face turned a deep purplish-blue.

His struggles became weaker and weaker, his vision gradually blurring over. Even her enraged words began to fade into indistinct ringing.

Just when he thought he was going to fade away into blissful unconsciousness, she released her grasp on him just enough to let him suck in a long, much needed gasp of air. Jasper said something more, but it went unheard beneath the sound of his violent coughs and gasps, his whole body still quaking beneath her. He looked up at her and flinched at the look of unadulterated rage and hatred burning within her single eye. However, he noticed something behind the resentment as well, but she hid it too well for him to make it out.

"J–J… J-Jasper, I—I…" Steven choked out, still struggling to catch his breath. He clawed at her arm in a futile attempt to pull it away, the spikes of Corruption piercing his neck. "I—I–I'm _s-sorry,_ Jasper… I—I'm just telling y-you wh–what she told m-me… and everyone else… I didn't m-mean anything b-by it! I—I swear!"

"But you believed her, didn't you?" When Steven didn't immediately respond, she pushed her arm against him a little harder, taking bitter satisfaction at the strangled cry of pain he let out in response. _"Didn't you?!"  
_

"N- _No!"_ Steven began as soon as she let him breathe again. "I—I mean, ye… _ugh._ Th–The Diamonds believed her too! That's why she was sha… poofed!"

"The Diamonds aren't that _na_ _ _ïv__ _e."_ Steven noticed that she looked away when she said that and sounded a bit unsure of herself.

"That—That doesn't matter, Jasper! What's said is said!" Steven retorted. He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper as he continued, "And… that Zircon was right. How would Rose Quartz have ever gotten within shatteringdistance of Pink Diamond without everyone fighting her back? It couldn't have been her…" He briefly thought back to that nightmare he'd had, a chill running up his spine as he recalled the stand-off between Pink Diamond, Jasper, Pink's Ruby guards, and the leader of the Crystal Gems. It seemed so vivid, so _real…_ but the more he learned about the truth behind Pink's death, the more he began to doubt the dream's validity. "It had to've been someone she would've _trusted,_ someone she would've let get that close to her."

"I—I…" Jasper choked out under her breath. "…I know what I saw. Ask those Rubies, ask _any_ Era I Gem and they'll tell you the same thing…"

"But that was over five millennia ago, maybe you just don't remember _exactly_ what you saw… _ugh."_ Steven reached up with a hand and tried, but failed to caress at the forming wounds on his neck. "Jasper, could you, um…?" Before he even finished his sentence, she dropped him to the ground, the boy immediately throwing his hands up to the front of his neck, the skin there covered with deep, dark red holes that _looked_ and _felt_ a lot more gruesome than they really were. They didn't even bleed.

"Tell me…" Jasper began before Steven could speak up again. "…why should I believe _you?_ Why should I believe what some traitorous _Zircon_ has to say about it? Neither of you were there on that battlefield, you know _nothing!"_ The hybrid boy flinched as she increasingly rose her voice again; he scrambled to his feet so that he could run or dodge with ease if she decided to lash out at him again.

"I—I know I wasn't…" Steven admitted pitifully. "But… b-but… _ugh…"_ He trailed off, unsure of exactly what to say to that. He really couldn't think of a reason off the top of his head.

Jasper smirked and chuckled softly. "That's what I thought."

They were both silent for a bit longer and Steven thought he heard footsteps approaching them from behind. That's when he remembered something.

" _I_ may not have been there, Jasper, but I know someone who _was."_ said Steven, finally breaking the silence.

" _What?"_

"The Crystal Gems… well, Garnet and Pearl anyway. They fought on Rose's behalf during the Great Gem War, and… maybe you can ask them what _they_ saw?"

Jasper let out a loud laugh of disbelief, making Steven jump. "Are you kidding me?! There isn't enough time in an _eternity_ for me _waste_ listening to what a defective slave and a dirty war machine have to say about the matter!" She suddenly leaned close to Steven, letting out a barely audible whimper as she did so. "It's over, _Steven._ We can sit here for _eons_ discussing this but nothing is going to convince me otherwise, not unless you show me actual _proof!"_

"And the Crystal Gems can give you proof! All you have to do is _try!_ They saw it too, they know what reallyhappened!"

Jasper fell silent for a second, looking away from Steven.

"Forget about what they _are,_ Jasper, just this once! All you have to do is give it a chance!" He offered a hand to her, but she jerked away from it. "We're not going to hurt you, we're not going to trap you or manipulate you, we're just going to try and _help_ you. And if the truth is what you want, then we can help you get that too! Just—Just trust me… trust _us!_ It… it's better than just sticking around here, fending for yourself in this half-Corrupted state… right?"

They were both silent for a long time, at least a minute, and Steven began to wonder if she was going to answer him at all. Then, he grinned widely as she let out an exasperated sigh and hesitantly rested her hand against his, still not looking at him.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Jasper muttered under her breath, then rose her voice to a tone that Steven could understand, clenching her hand into a fist around Steven's smaller appendage and jerking him forward. "But remember this: I'm _not_ your ally! I'm not your friend! I am not going to fight on your behalf or pledge allegiance to Rose Quartz! And I am not, by any means, a _Crystal Gem!_ I'm coming with you for one reason, and one reason _only,_ and that's to find out the truth regarding what happened to my Diamond. _Got it?!"_

At first, Steven hardly heard her, staring up at her with stars in his eyes, but he shook it off and nodded quickly, prompting the banded Quartz to release him, sending him falling back against the sandstone formation again.

Not a second passed after that before the rock Steven was leaning against exploded from beneath him and two large red and gold objects flew over him where he laid atop the formation's shattered remains. A look of horror entered Jasper's eye as the gauntlets rocketed straight towards her. Steven summoned his shield, but by then, it was too late. She was hit square in the stomach with both of them, thrown back uncontrollably against the wall of the canyon. She vanished into an explosion of orange smoke as the gauntlets dissipated into thin air, her tiny gem falling lifelessly to the orange ground.

Tears welled up in Steven's eyes and he jumped up, rushing towards her.

" _Nooo!"_ He fell to his knees by her side and cradled the gem in his hands, beginning to tremble again as his tears fell onto her gemstone. "Jasper! _Jasper!_ J–Jasper…?" A hand rested upon his shoulder and he didn't even look up, already recognizing that touch. "G-Garnet… why—why did you…?" He trailed off, hugging Jasper's gem to his chest, trying to remind himself that she'd be back before long; that didn't stop the tears though. What if she didn't remember what they talked about it? What if she became fully Corrupted again?

"That's what she gets for insulting Fusion." Garnet deadpanned, until she noticed how upset Steven was. "Steven, just remember, a Gem's form is only an illusion, she'll regenerate before long. Don't worry about her." Steven sat there for a bit longer, then sniffled as he shakily held the gem out to her, allowing her to scoop it up in her own palm.

"But—But what if she doesn't remember anything? Wh-What if she's… she's…?"

"She'll remember, Steven, and she's not going to Corrupt again. She'll be a little on edge when she regenerates, so don't let your guard down when she does."

He nodded once as she began to walk away, Jasper's gemstone in tow. Before long, she realized that Steven wasn't following and turned to face him. "Are you coming, Steven?"

"Oh, yeah, I–I'll be there… in a sec." Steven responded half-heartedly.

"Don't be long." And with that, she departed towards the Warp Pad, leaving Steven alone there. He briefly turned to face the canyon wall, a spider-web of cracks covering its red-orange surface where Jasper had impacted it. He had to remind himself that Jasper retreated into her gem a lot easier now that she was half-Corrupted, but it still put him on edge. A part of him still wished that Garnet hadn't poofed her so soon, but then again, it wasn't like she'd be able to walk to the Warp Pad and they couldn't carry her.

He turned and began to walk away again, but stopped when he noticed something. It was Jasper's amber bubble, the Corrupted Gem's teal and pink gem shards still floating within. The translucent bubble's amber hue almost camouflaged it against Beta's red and orange scenery.

Steven approached it, a little hesitant. He wished she hadn't been shattered, he wished that he had saved her like he had tried so hard to save Jasper. But he didn't, and now, here she was, nothing but a few mindless shards encased in a bubble. As he ran his fingers across the bubble's smooth surface, tears forming in his eyes again, he considered popping it and trying to reverse his mistake, but he reluctantly decided against it. He could heal a cracked gem, he presumably cracked the code to healing Corruptions, but that wasn't the case with a shattered Gem. While they weren't quite _dead_ dead, it was the closest thing they got.

Once they were in pieces, they couldn't go back. Who they once were was gone. Forever.

Steven wiped away the tears and let out a heavy, forlorn sigh. Lifting a hand, he gingerly tapped the top of the bubble and sent it away.

 **And that's chapter seven! And I finally got around to revising this ol' thing, thank the stars. Next revision will be of the insanely long chapter eight, and then I'll officially get back to work on the long awaited chapter nine! Whoo!**

 **In canon, I don't know if Corrupted Gems can bubble or not, but if gem shards can (Gem Drill), then I'm assuming Corruptions can too. You cannot convince me otherwise! And about that strange scene in which Steven telepathically managed to locate Jasper, I originally wanted to change that scene to something else, but then I decided that perhaps it's just another power he has that he's just recently discovered exists. Any Gems that Steven has a close relationship with, or any Gem that Rose Quartz had a close relationship with, he can telepathically contact or locate them if he just stops, clears his mind, and meditates for a few seconds. It's similar to how he dreams his way into the minds of other Gems or humans, except it's temporary and happens when he's conscious instead.**

 **Alright, I think that's all I have to say this time around. That is all.**


	8. Chapter VIII - Reminiscence

**I don't think there's anything worth adding a spoiler alert for in this chapter other than a couple of vague, insignificant mentions, and the ending feels a bit rushed IMO, but I just wanted to get this thing finished and uploaded already. I'll probably get around to re-writing the ending later.**

When Steven reached the Warp Pad, he found Garnet standing there, patiently waiting on him. He stepped upon the Warp Pad beside her and activated it without a word; he didn't hold the same enthusiasm and optimism that he'd had when they left the Crystal Temple. The ride through the warp stream was dead silent.

"Garnet?" Steven chimed in suddenly.

"Yes, Steven?"

"Can I… can I see her?"

Garnet didn't immediately react, looking down at him in slight confusion before the realization hit her. She opened her red hand and held Jasper's gem out in front of the boy who was quick to take it from her. There was a sad look in his eyes as he stared down at the gem, holding it in both hands, making sure not to lose her in the warp stream.

"Is something wrong, Steven? She'll be back soon, I promise."

"I know, but I still… I miss her, and I'm still worried about her." He blinked away tears forming in his eyes as he held her close to his chest. "I know you said that she would still remember everything, and that she wouldn't Corrupt again right away, but—but I can't help but wonder about what she's seeing in there. Back when she was fully Corrupted, she was alone except for these _monsters,_ these… horrible versions of the Gems she hates the most, and they kept attacking her, kept… _shattering_ her. Over and over again."

He subconsciously held Jasper's gem a little tighter.

"But she isn't fully Corrupted anymore. Her gemspace was like that because her mind was broken by her most painful memories and worst fears. But she can think clearly now, she can speak and control her own actions again. She's _herself_ now. Jasper is going to be just fine."

"You really think so?" he squeaked.

They were dropped out of the warp-stream with a flash of blue light, the Crystal Temple materializing around them as the stream vanished.

"I _know_ so." Garnet reassured him. They both glanced up as Pearl stood up from the couch where she'd been sitting beside Amethyst. The lavender Gem looked on in silence as Pearl strode towards them, and Garnet crossed her arms with a soft "Hm." Steven held Jasper's gem between his palms, pushing them together and hiding her from view for fear of how Pearl would react to the Quartz Gem's presence, even if it was only in gem form.

"Oh, there you two are, I was starting to get worried." Pearl said, sounding very relieved. She glanced down at Steven for a second, who forced a sheepish smile up at her, then returned her gaze back to the red Fusion, her smile disappearing. "How did it go with… Jasper?"

Garnet said nothing and glanced down at Steven. Pearl expectantly followed her gaze and Steven shrank away from their looks. He hesitated for several long seconds, then reluctantly presented the gemstone to Pearl. He was unsure of how she was going to react, but he didn't quite expect her to let out a horrified gasp and move several steps away from them, covering her mouth with both hands, a scared look in her cyan eyes.

"Is—Is that… Jasper's _gem?!"  
_

"What else would it be, P?" Amethyst remarked. "Hmph. I'm just surprised you actually got her to poof again."

"Well…" Steven began, but Garnet cut him off.

" _Pearl."_ she said sternly, giving the Gem in question a hard stare from behind her visor. "Remember, she is not our enemy now. She's just a Gem who needs our help. Whether _she_ wants it or not, whether _you_ want it or not. Understood?"

"But I don't get it! After all she did to us and we're still going out of our way to take care of her?!"

"We've never turned away someone in need before, and we aren't going to start today." Garnet responded flatly.

Pearl opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. She glanced down at Steven, who was running his thumbs across the length of Jasper's gemstone, holding it a few inches in front of him. She cringed in disgust at the sight. It just felt so… wrongto her; Jasper was supposed to be their _enemy_. She pulled her gaze away from the gemstone when Steven looked at Garnet and spoke up, "So… when do you think she'll be back?"

"I can't answer that, Steven." Garnet deadpanned.

"Why not? Can't you use your future vision to…?"

"The reformation of a Gem is far too unpredictable, even for someone who can see the future. You're going to have to find out for yourself."

"Aw, _what?!"_ Steven whined, prompting a slight smile from the Fusion. Even Pearl smirked at his reaction.

"I'm sorry, Steven. You're just going to have to be patient." With that, Garnet turned away from him and headed to the Temple Gate, activating it with her gems and entering her respective room.

Steven stared after her in confusion, then turned to look at the gem again. Maybe he could telepathically figure out when she would regenerate like he had figured out where she was in Beta? It was unlikely, he could only contact a Gem who was still regenerating in his dreams. He knew Amethyst often reformed within minutes of poofing at the least, or after a couple of hours at the most, and he wondered if all Quartzes were like that. He stared down at the gem, silently awaiting the warm sensation to enter it that signified her reformation. It never did.

Steven remembered when Pearl retreated into her gem, seemingly an eternity ago. She had taken over two weeks to come back. Speaking of Pearl, Steven looked up just in time to see her approaching him, staring at the floor with an apprehensive expression; she seemed to be deliberately avoiding Steven's dark gaze.

"Um… Steven? Can I… ask you something?"

Steven looked at her skeptically, wondering why she was asking him that question; she was normally so straightforward about these things. Regardless, he said in his usual optimistic tone of voice, "Sure, Pearl, what's up?" He couldn't help but notice she was shifting uncomfortably and kneading her hands with a nervous look in her eyes. When he noticed that she was staring at Jasper's gem, he instinctively held her off to the side instead. "Pearl, are you okay?"

"Oh! Yes, Steven, I, uh… well… um…"

"C'mon, spit it out, P!" Amethyst shouted from the sidelines. Pearl shot a harsh glare at Amethyst over her shoulder, then softened her gaze as she turned back to Steven.

"Look, it's just that… why are you so adamanton helping _Jasper?_ " Steven cocked his head to the side in confusion at the unfamiliar word. "Oh, I—I mean… why do you want to help _her?_ Of all the Gems in the galaxy, and you pick _her!_ It doesn't make any sense! After all she's done to us and we're just… just taking her in like a new _pet?!"  
_

"It's not that, Pearl." Steven said, looking down at and petting Jasper's gem again. "I want to help _all_ of these Corrupted Gems, an-and the non-Corrupted ones too. I… know we're not going to be able to convince every Gem in the galaxy to join our side, but… I'd at least like to try. Jasper just happened to be the one who comes first." He smiled coolly up at her, but Pearl wasn't returning it.

"But why… _her?!"_ Pearl repeated, becoming increasingly frustrated. "She's one of the most dangerous Gems to come out of Homeworld, Corrupted or not!"

"But I'm making progress this time, Pearl! Can't you forget whoshe is long enough to be proud of that?"

Pearl's eyes widened slightly and she looked away, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, before going silent altogether. Tears began to burn in the corners of Steven's eyes, a combination of anxiety and frustration rapidly building up within his heart.

" _Well?!_ " Silence. _"Say something!"_ The tears began to fall. Pearl tensed, but remained silent, unsure of the right words to say, so Steven went a little further. "D-Don't you trust me, Pearl? Do you… do you even _care about me?!"_ Those words caught both Gems off-guard, Pearl throwing a hand to her mouth with a shocked gasp and Amethyst's eyes went wide in stunned shock.

"Steven…" Pearl began, still partially debating with herself on what to say. "What ever made you think…? Of course I care about you, and I trust you! _That's_ why I'm doing this in the first place! I _don't_ trust Jasper, she's tried to shatter us time and time again and she could've _succeeded_ … yet you still want to take her in?! We may as well be _asking_ her to shatter us!"

"But she's changed! I know she has!"

"Orshe's just trying to gain your trust so she can get to close to the rest of us!"

Steven's eyes widened, the realization suddenly hitting him. He hadn't thought of that, at least not until now. What if she really was trying to manipulate them? Strike as soon as the time was right: when all of them had dropped their guards? He shook off the thought. No, that couldn't be it. She had the perfect chance to attack him and Amethyst both back in her exit hole, yet she still didn't. She'd only attacked him when she became upset and frustrated, nothing more, nothing less… right?

"No… th-that's not true!" Steven said, trying to remain calm and echo his thoughts aloud to her. "She had a chance to attack me _and_ Amethyst back in Beta! But she didn't, did she?!" Amethyst nodded in agreement even though Pearl wouldn't see it. Again, Pearl was silent for a moment, then she let out a sigh. For a moment, Steven believed he'd won this argument.

"But what if I'm right and she's just trying to catch us off-guard? _Then what?!"_

"But she won't!"

"You don't know that!"

Steven stomped his foot against the floor was an agitated grunt. "I don't understand! Why won't you just give her a chance?!"

"Why won't _you_ just listen to me?! It's for your own good, Steven!" Pearl shouted, getting almost nose-to-nose with the boy. Tears began forming in her eyes as well, but she didn't seem to notice. "She needs to be bubbled away for the safety of _everyone!"_ Amethyst shifted uncomfortably on the couch and Steven clenched his free hand into a fist as his frustration and anger rapidly increased.

" _I don't need you trying to protect me everything!"_ he retorted with equal intensity.

"But you need to be protected from _her!_ Why won't you just let me do this?! _Why won't you let me protect you, Rose!?"_

He was caught off-guard by her words and took a single step away from her. For a second, they were right there in the Ancient Sky Arena again, arguing about Connie's sword training. He began to wonder if Pearl had had a similar argument like this with Rose Quartz once upon a time.

The enraged adrenaline gradually began to drain away as Steven realized just how upset she was getting. Tears were streaming from her cyan eyes and dripping onto the floor at their feet, her whole body was trembling violently and she was breathing hard, almost hyperventilating. Pearl took a moment to regain her composure, taking a few deep breaths but making no effort to wipe away the tears.

"Just… let me help you." she choked out. "I can't lose you again, Steven… I—I just… _can't."_

All three of them were silent again except for Pearl's occasional sniffling. Steven ran a thumb across Jasper's gem, looking away from Pearl to stare at the gold and red stone. This time, it was his turn to be at a loss for words. He looked up at Amethyst, a silent plea for help, but she turned away, looking equally tense. He looked back down at Jasper, the light glinting off of the diamond-shaped stone. About twenty seconds of awkward silence hung over the two and a half Gems, before Pearl sighed and spoke up again, prompting Steven to look up at her.

"Just the other day, when you and Connie came back from the Kindergarten," Pearl began, her voice low and much calmer than before. "both of you were so hurt. Connie had broken her arm, and you… y-you were cut up and covered in… blood. _Your_ blood… _"_ She made a squeaking sound as she suppressed a sob. Steven tensed up as he looked down at the bandages wrapped around his body and he idly picked at the edges of them. Pearl took a couple of deep breaths before she continued, "I—I was so worried… I was thinking about it all night, wondering what had happened, about what _could've_ happened, and what I could've done to prevent it from happening in the first place. I kept wondering whether it would happen again or not, if we should risk letting you go out on a mission alone like that again."

Steven winced at the suggestion.

"Garnet said that we were risking something like this happening to you since day one, and… Amethyst acted like it never happened at all." The Quartz in question only shrugged. "I—I felt like I was the only one who realized the _danger_ of your mission. Wh-What if something like that happened again? What if _Jasper_ tried something and we weren't there to protect you from her?!" Steven winced at the vivid memory of her nearly choking him to death against that rock; his throat was still sore from the ordeal. "What if you… wh-what if you didn't survive it next time? I—I know, we can't _always_ be there to protect you, but… it—it's like you're not taking the danger of these missions seriously anymore! You survived going to Homeworld and confronting the Diamonds on your own, and you've held your own against Gems that are bigger and strongerthan you in the past, but… what if you _didn't?_ When you went after Jasper the other morning without telling anyone… what if you hadn't come back?! You'd be… be _dead,_ or dying, and none of us would know it until it was too late!"

Steven and Amethyst exchanged concerned glances, then the former looked up uneasily at Pearl. Tears were spilling down her face and her whole body was trembling as she stared down at him. He looked at Jasper's gem for a second, then looked away, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, he settled on something simple.

"You… have to let me grow up someday, Pearl." He said it as calmly and lightly as he could, hoping to let the sensitive Gem down easy. Regardless, Pearl threw herself forward and pulled him into a firm embrace, beginning to sob heavily onto his shoulder. Her tight grasp pressing against Steven's injuries only worsened the pain that was, earlier, little more than a dull throb, but no matter how hard he tried to break free, she wouldn't let him go. With a sigh, he gave up.

Through Pearl's sobbing and choked gasps, Steven made out a single, coherent sentence. "I—I know, b-but I… I… _c-can't!"_

Steven suppressed a pained whimper as she squeezed him even tighter. He glanced up at Amethyst, expecting her to be laughing or at least trying to hide it. Instead, she sat on the far side of the couch, looking half uncomfortable, half concerned. Steven glanced over at Pearl out the corner of his eye, then, with a bit of effort, pulled his arms free from her grasp and returned the hug without a word.

* * *

It had taken almost three minutes for Pearl to finally let Steven go. When she did, she didn't look at him and didn't say a word, she just stood up, activated the Temple Gate, then disappeared into it, leaving Steven and Amethyst alone in the house proper.

Steven took the time to go to the bathroom, then used a towel to dry off his shoulder from where Pearl's tears soaked his skin and he replaced the bandages from where they'd become damp. His wounds felt sore from Pearl's crushing embrace and brownish-pink dried blood caked the skin around them, but they were healing, albeit slowly. Once he was finished, he grabbed his phone then headed upstairs to the loft where his bed was, much to Amethyst's confusion.

"What're you doing going to bed? It's early." she pointed out.

Steven sat down on the side of it. "I know. I was gonna call Connie, then see if I can contact Jasper."

Amethyst raised an eyebrow at him. "Huh, I didn't know you had Jasper's number."

Steven gave her a weird look. "In my _dreams,_ Amethyst. So, uh… don't bother me, okay? At least not right now."

Amethyst blinked once as she looked up at him, then shrugged and got up, starting towards the Temple Gate, her gem glowing as she activated it. "Whatever, Steman. You're the boss."

Steven stared after her until she disappeared through the Temple Gate, watching as it closed with what looked like purple bubblegum sticking together in a vertical line through the middle, then it faded, giving way to the Gate's smooth grey surface. He continued to stare in silence, then glanced over at Jasper's gemstone where he'd left her resting on the end-table beside his bed earlier. The gem remained still and silent. Steven sighed at her.

"You're still not back yet, huh?" said Steven as he threw his legs up onto the bed and lifted his phone above him, turning it on and unlocking it.

What greeted him on the screen startled him. He hadn't touched his phone in a couple of days and completely forgot that he'd left the photograph of the Corrupted Quartzes pulled up. He stared at the green and pink Quartz for a few long seconds before he went into his contacts and selected Connie's number. It rang once, twice, thrice. After the fourth, it went to voicemail, so Steven cut it off with a sigh. He flipped over onto his side and placed his phone beside Jasper's gem, then stared at the lifeless stone in silence.

He half expected her to regenerate as he laid there staring at her, but after thirty seconds passed, the stone remained there, completely static. Steven lifted his hand and rested his palm upon the gem's surface, searching it for the warmth of regeneration. There was nothing. He let out a defeated sigh and wriggled about on the bed until he got underneath the blankets, shooting a final, brief glance Jasper's way before he flipped onto his opposite side.

A part of him didn't want to bother her again, but another part of him did. His brain insisted on him at least _trying_ to unconsciously enter Jasper's gemspace, he had to know what it was like there now, he had to know what she was seeing. He had to know that she wasn't suffering anymore.

Steven closed his eyes as he whispered, half to himself, "I'll see you soon, Jas." Ten seconds passed before he slipped away into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Everything was an empty, quiet blackness until tiny motes of colour came swimming into view. They swam about aimlessly in the darkness until they found purpose and formed scenery: a towering orange canyon with walls striped with red. The blackness that filled the sky was replaced with the same alien amber colour that matched the Quartz's eyes. Steven got to his feet and he scanned his surroundings, surprised to find it looking relatively normal, or what he assumed to be normal. When he looked up, he found dark green spikes, few and far between, lining the canyons' edges, just looming there as if watching him. Regardless, their presence was significantly more scarce than they had been before.

That was a good sign… he hoped.

Steven stood in the middle of the canyon, seemingly alone. He didn't really know what to do or where to go, until a low, raspy voice greeted him.

"I was waiting on you to come back."

Steven jumped and scanned his surroundings in search of the owner of the voice and tensed when he found nothing and no-one in the realm. Before he had a chance to turn around, he was grabbed him by one of his arms and pulled him up off of his feet. He could only crane his neck to look over his shoulder at Jasper who stared back at him with a flat glare. Steven was surprised to find that the elements of her Corruption were gone, but she didn't look like herself prior to her Corruption either. Despite the lack of a spike replacing it, her right eye was still missing, leaving smooth, blank orange and red skin in its place and her hair was a frazzled, dirty mess, several bangs falling messily into her face.

Her dark red uniform was shredded and battered and the entire front of her torso made Steven nauseous when he looked it over: it looked like it'd been crushed, completely caved in, turning her orange skin a sickly blackish purple colour where horrible bruises covered her. It looked like she had recently been in a fight and found herself on the losing end. However, the injury, as gruesome as it looked, didn't seem to cause her any pain.

"Jasper? How'd you know I was coming back?"

"Because I'm not stupid, like you never give up on anything, no matter how _fruitless_ it may be."

"What do you…? I'm… not a Gem, Jasper, not _really_. I'm still half human, remember?"

Jasper scoffed contemptuously. "Oh, really?" She squeezed his arm harder, making Steven cry out. "Then that makes it much more satisfying to do" She drew one of her huge fists back. _"this!"  
_

Steven didn't get a chance to react before he was violently thrown from her grasp with a heavy blow to the middle of his back. He let out a cry of pain as he tumbled to the ground, the pain radiating throughout his entire body as he laid there, staring up at Jasper with wide eyes, tears of pain beginning to form in them. She wasn't grinning sadistically like he'd expected her to be, she looked indefinably _angry,_ and he didn't know why.

"J-Jas–Jasper… _Jasper,_ wh-what're you doing? Wh-What's going on?!"

"Don't play stupid with me, runt!" Jasper growled as she effortlessly summoned her crash helmet.

"But I don't understand! Really!" Steven hastily summoned his shield, positioning it protectively between them.

"Don't lie to me! You know what happened! You know _exactly_ what happened, _don't you?!"_

In two great strides, she was standing inches in front of him, latching onto his shield and snapping it in half like it was a tree branch; the broken shield dissipated instantly. With nothing blocking her target anymore, she threw her head forward, intending to headbutt her helmet straight into Steven's gem. He blocked it with a replacement shield at the last possible second, but he still struggled to hold her back.

"I—I _don't!_ I–I'm not lying, Jasper! I really don't know what's wrong!" With a grunt of exertion, Jasper destroyed Steven's shield a second time, but leaned back up, staring down at the boy with a look that could kill. "J-Just tell me, Jasper! Tell me, and then maybe we can talk this out!"

"I'm _done_ talking! I'm done negotiating with the likes of _you!"_ Steven scrambled back, barely dodging a third attempt at headbutting his gem. "Because I know now that it's nothing but one! _Big!_ _**Lie!"**_

She lunged at Steven again, but this time, he latched onto the helmet and shoved her back, getting up onto his feet before she had a chance to strike at him again. With a growl, Jasper rolled herself into a massive, fiery orange ball the instant she regained her composure and barreled straight towards the boy. Realizing his shield wouldn't do him any good in this situation, Steven leapt several feet into the air, watching as Jasper passed harmlessly beneath him, unfurling a few feet away. Despite how tense and anxious he was becoming, Steven forced happy, positive thoughts into his mind , eventually slwoing his descent to a gradual hover… until Jasper jumped towards him, grabbing him by one of his legs as she came back down and jerking him out of the air. Steven hit the ground hard, chest-first, with a pained yelp.

"Jasper! Please, _stop!"_ Steven cried in desperation. "I-I've already told you! I'm not Rose Quartz! I—I don't know what she did, but…"

"Rose? _Rose?!_ Haha, this isn't about _her,_ runt!"

"Then what _is_ _it_ about?!Tell me and I'll…" Steven cut off with a cry of pain as Jasper released his ankle and decided to step on his back instead, right where she'd struck him before, refusing to let up in the slightest. "Ahh! _Jasper!"_ Steven cried out, his voice choked with agony as he writhed uselessly beneath her weight. "I—I want to help you… but—but I don't know how! Wh _–_ Whatever it is I did then I—I'm… _I'm sorry!"_

"Sorry's not gonna cut it!" Jasper snapped. She dropped down onto one knee, shifting all of her weight onto the foot that was still crushing Steven's small body. Then, she leaned forward and reached out with a red hand, latching her thick, muscular fingers around his head, putting slight pressure on him as a silent threat. Steven could only let out a barely audible squeak; he couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not and he didn't know what would happen to him in reality if he died in his dream, but he didn't want to find out the answer to either question.

 _What if_ Jasper _tried something?!_ Pearl's words echoed in Steven's mind. It seemed like she was right there beside him, repeating those words into his ear. _You need to be protected from her!_ Then, it finally clicked. _Why are you so adamant on helping Jasper?! Of all the Gems in the galaxy, and you pick_ her!

"Well? Any last words before I crush you like an _insect?"_ Jasper growled in an eerily hushed voice.

He tensed up beneath her, the realization finally hitting him and, through his pain, he choked out, "You… y-you heard what she said… d-didn't you?"

" _What?!_ What're you going on about?!"

"Wh-What… _Pearl_ said about you… about how…"

Jasper spoke up before he'd even finished his sentence, "Like I _care_ what that glorified _slave_ has to say about me! No… this is about _you."_ Steven whimpered when she squeezed his head a little harder. "I should've known from the very beginning that trusting a _Crystal Gem,_ one of Rose's useless _lackies_ was a mistake, and yet I _still_ let you get under my skin! Listening to a _word_ any of you had to say was a waste of my time since _day one!"_

"Wh… what're you talking about, Jasper?" Steven pleaded. "Tell me! _Please!_ I—"

"You _lied to me! That's_ what I'm talking about!"

"Lied?" Steven echoed. "I—I didn't lie to you, Jasper! I swear!"

" _Didn't you?!"_ she shouted. "Does 'we're not going to hurt or manipulate you' ring a bell?!"

Steven's eyes went wide, recalling his words from earlier that day, only for Garnet to poof her the second she got the chance. It was so quick and it came out of nowhere, Jasper more than likely never had a chance to see or hear what was going on before she retreated into her gem. She felt betrayed by that action, and Steven didn't blame her, but now, she was getting ready to crush him and kill him, possibly in the real world too, because of a huge misunderstanding.

"Jasper… all—all of this is because Garnet p-poofed you… isn't it?"

"You had your pet Fusion hiding out all along, ready to strike as soon as I let my guard down!" Jasper roared.

Steven decided to ignore her remark regarding Garnet's status as a Fusion for the time being. "No! I—I didn't, really! I mean… yeah, sh-she came with me, but… I—I didn't want her attack you! She only did that because… b-because…" Steven decided against bringing up the fact that Garnet had poofed her over the offensive statement Jasper had made at the time. "…because she thought you were, um… attacking me! Well, you _were,_ but…"

"Then next time, maybe you should keep them on a _leash."_

"Uh…" Steven struggled not to make a remark about her insults. "She was… just protecting me, Jasper! That's all! She—She didn't attack you because you're… _you,_ she attacked you because she thought I was _hurt!_ Haven't you ever had someone that you wanted to… _protect_ before?" For a moment, Jasper looked away, a solemn look in her eye. Steven breathed a little easier when she loosened her grip on him.

Jasper sighed, the sound thick with solemnity. "Yeah, of course." She went back to speaking in her default harsh, resentful tone rather abruptly. "But _I_ never would've attacked someone who's supposed to be an 'ally'!If I had attacked one of my allies… I would have been shatteredfor _treachery!_ That—That… _thing_ deserves no better!"

"But Garnet didn't know! As far as she knew, you were still looking to shatter my gem over my mom's war crimes!" He flashed an awkward, comical grin up at her, but it fell flat on the Quartz soldier.

"That _doesn't matter!_ How can I know it won't just happen _again?!"_ Jasper tightened her grip again and Steven only squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about what might happen if he angered her or she blew up at him again, even for a split second. "I've experienced this so many times in the past… there were Gems that I thought I could call my friends, but as soon as I needed them the most, they were _gone!_ All they ever wanted me around for was to make _them_ look good! How do I know that _this_ won't end the same way?!" Her voice broke and she seemed to subconsciously squeeze Steven's head in her hand, making the boy go as rigid as a stone beneath her.

"It—It won't! I promise you, it _won't!"_ Steven pleaded. Then, for good measure, he added, "An-And even if the Gems want to take advantage of you… _I_ won't let them!" He knew that the Gems were above manipulation like that, but considering the way Pearl talked about Jasper before…

"I don't believe you…"

"Wh-What?"

"I _can't_ believe you! You're _her…_ you—you have her gem! You're _just like her!_ And Rose… she was a liar,a _manipulator!"  
_

"B-But I'm not her, and I'm not _like_ her! I—I'm Steven! The only one that I'm 'like' is _me!"_ He forced a more genuine smile at her. "I—I don't know what my mom did to make you feel this way, but… I won't do the same thing… not _intentionally_ anyway!I can promise you that!" Jasper didn't respond immediately, and remained silent for a few seconds more. "Jasper…? Please, just—just let me _protect you!"_

"I don't _need_ your protection."

"Yes, you do! You need it more than you're willing to admit! I—I know it!"

"Don't pretend to know me… you know _nothing_ about me!" Steven grimaced as Jasper yelled at him, half-expecting her to end him right then and there. To his surprise, she didn't.

"Okay… o-okay, I've got that! But, the point being… can't you just give us a chance? One more chance? _Please?"  
_

Jasper was silent for a few seconds, then said, a little more calm than she was before, "And why should I do that? If the others won't give _me_ a second chance—"

"I'll have to talk to them about that." Steven interrupted. "And… well, you can't just stay in your gem forever, y'know."

"Except I _can,_ and I _will_ if I have to! I ask for _one_ good reason to trust you again, and you can't even give me _that?!_ _"_

Steven instinctively squirmed beneath the Quartz, despite how futile the action was.

"Look… maybe I don't have a perfect reason, but it's not like you have anything else to do or anywhere better to go! I mean… once you _do_ regenerate, you won't have anywhere to go, and you'll still be alone! It's not like you can go back to Homeworld… even if you _could,_ and you don't know what'll happen if you try to fend for yourself again!" Steven flinched when she let out a low snarl at that. "There might still be some Corrupted Gems out there, and what if you're attacked by the people in the city again? _Wh-What if your gem is cracked again?!"_

"I can hold my own against a few lowly _humans,_ whether I'm Corrupted or not."

Steven didn't immediately retort, unsure of what to say to that, then said, "But… don't you remember what happened before? When that group of people attacked you? They cracked your gem, they could've _shattered_ you! If it… if it weren't for me, you'd be in _pieces_ right now!"

Jasper didn't bother asking how he knew that. "And who's to say that isn't what I'd _prefer?!"_

Steven's eyes went wide. "But… _why,_ Jasper? Why do you want to be shattered? Why do want to… t-to _die?!"  
_

Jasper snarled at his bluntness. "Because it's… _over_ for me, Steven. My Diamond is gone, Yellow Diamond won't take me back, I'm stuck here on _Earth._ The only ones I have to turn to anymore are four mutinous rebelswho want me deadand the spawn of my Diamond's killer. I'm at the lowest that I've ever been since I emerged from Beta… I thought it was a lonely place, being at the very top, but now, heh… _now,_ I realize that being at the bottom is even lonelier."

"But you're not alone at the bottom, Jasper." Steven began coolly. "So you're at your lowest now… but—but we are too! We're _all_ at the bottom, Jasper, it—it's not just you, I can promise you that."

He paused momentarily, waiting for Jasper to say something in response; she stayed silent.

"Jasper, listen… you're just one of a million Quartz soldiers back on Homeworld. If something happens to you, then, in the Diamonds' eyes, you're expendable. They can just throw you away, replace you with another Jasper or Amethyst or Carnelian that's just as good. You'll never be anything but a few letters and numbers to them." Steven remembered when Peridot contacted Yellow Diamond, forced to identify herself, not as "Peridot", but as "Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG". He assumed Jasper was no different. "You're just a puppet to them, they can make you do anything and everything they want, no matter what… but you don't want that. Not—Not _really,_ right?"

Jasper growled under her breath. "Pink Diamond was _different._ She saw each and every one of us as special and unique for who we are…"

"But Pink is gone now, Jasper. The other Diamonds aren't like her!"

" _Don't you think I know that?!_ " Jasper shouted. "I—I don't want to serve… _her. She's_ not my Diamond, Pink is. She _always_ will be, shattered or not! But I—I had no choice in the matter… I had to serve somebody!"

Steven whimpered when she squeezed him hard again, enough to make it hurt. "Ah! Jasper… c-calm down! You don't _have_ to serve her anymore! You're on Earth now, where she can't reach you! You can choose to do what _you_ want now, the Diamonds don't have any say in it anymore!"

"Except they do." Steven let out a relieved sigh when she abruptly released him and put a finger against the abused insignia on her chest. "As long I wear the Diamond Authority's insignia, I serve them, and them _alone._ If they suspect that I've stepped out of line or if I'm being held captive by the Crystal Gems, they'll just send a battalion of Quartzes or Rubies or _whatever_ so that they can change that and take me back to the Gem Homeworld."

"But they already did."

" _What?!"_

"Yellow sent five Rubies to Earth looking for you, but then we shot them all into space and took their Roaming Eye… then one of them came back and stole it again, found the other Rubies, and took them all back to Homeworld. But I don't think they'll be back anytime soon."

" _Rubies?_ Naïve wastes of space…" Jasper muttered to herself.

"Uh… yeah, they _were_ pretty dumb." Steven smiled slightly at that, but it quickly disappeared. "But remember, you haven't regenerated yet. You can change that insignia to whatever _you_ want it to be, it doesn't have to be of one of the Diamonds." Jasper scoffed in response at first and smirked bitterly down at the boy.

"What do you expect me to change it to? A _star?"_

"Anything you want! Or nothing at all, if that's what you'd prefer. You don't _have_ to pledge allegiance to the Diamonds anymore if you don't want to! Remember what Peridot said? Earth can set you free…" He smiled up at her while Jasper silently mouthed the words, but shook her head violently once she came to her senses and realized what she was doing.

"The Diamonds are all I've ever known, I don't even know where to start…"

"Then I can help you. Us worst Gems have to stick together… right?" Steven regretted saying that as soon as the words left his mouth, unsure of how severely Jasper would react to them. To his surprise, she hardly reacted at all, only grunted dismissively. "Right?" Again, she was silent. Steven felt himself becoming lightheaded and his surroundings began blurring over; the pain of Jasper's foot crushing his back began to fade away with it. _Oh, no… I'm waking up!_

Just before the world swirled away, Steven heard Jasper chuckle softly under her breath; he couldn't tell if it was genuine or not.

"What did I tell you? When you're at the bottom, you'll do anything… follow any _one_ that makes you feel like less of a _failure."_

With those words, the realm swirled dizzyingly away and Steven was pulled unceremoniously back into the waking world. He let out a sharp gasp and his eyes snapped open wide. His back was still hurting, right where Jasper had assaulted him, and even the tiniest of movements aggravated it. He tried to reach around and touch where there was probably a forming bruise, but his arms just weren't flexible enough. Steven let out a pained moan as he gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, bearing the pain enough to flip onto his opposite side, going still as a statue once he did.

On the end-table, Jasper's gem was still stationary beside Steven's phone. He stared at her in silence for a couple of minutes that felt like a couple of hours. Nothing happened. The gem laid there, motionlessly, silently, the ache it caused him, Steven reached forward with a hand and cupped it over the faceted gemstone, feeling it for any signs of warmth. Nothing. He let out a disappointed sigh as he recoiled his hand again, staring solemnly at the gem.

"Come on, Jasper, you have to come back. Please…" he whispered to her. Twenty seconds passed. Still nothing.

As Steven laid there staring at her, his eyes became heavy and he nearly returned to his slumber if the sound of his phone vibrating didn't snap him back to attention.

" _Ah!_ J-Jasper!"

Steven was quick to snatch Jasper's gem from the table and stare at her expectantly. Nothing. He turned his attention to where his phone still laid when it vibrated once more. Steven let out a disappointed sigh as he returned Jasper's gem to her place and picked up his phone, turning it on and unlocking it again. There was no notification to prompt the buzzing other than one informing him that the battery was almost dead. He looked up to find that the sky was darkening outside and recalled that his phone was no more than 30% charged when he'd picked it up from the counter. The last time he'd picked it up, he had failed to attach it to its charger cord again.

Steven got up with a pained groan and headed downstairs, attaching his phone to its charger before he went into the gallery, skimming through the pictures until he found a peculiar one of Jasper, the disembodied gemstones of the two Corrupted Quartzes held in her hands, presenting them proudly to him. It was almost hard to find a legitimately troubled, broken Gem behind those hard golden eyes and her fanged, sadistic grin as she presented the gems of her victims to the camera. He wondered if it was some side-effect of being Corrupted, pushing all of her worst, most painful memories to the forefront, even if her Corruption was only partial now.

He shrugged it off and turned his phone off, casting a glance out the window for a second, watching the Sun where it gradually began its descent beneath the horizon, the waters of the ocean shimmering with orange light, then he started back up towards the loft. He only stopped, turning to face the Temple Gate, when he heard it activating with a blue design that scrawled across the door's grey surface. He recognized it as the one belonging to Pearl.

Steven stood there and waited patiently as the door opened and the skinny Gem emerged, her eyes on the floor. He didn't want to see her, at least not right now, but his feelings towards her changed when he noticed how emotionally exhausted she looked and how red her eyes were, like she'd been crying for a while, even after she'd departed into her room. She didn't even seem to notice him at first.

"Pearl?" Steven spoke up softly, as not to startle her.

She jumped and let out a gasp, looking up at him with wide, surprised blue eyes. As soon as she noted his presence, she allowed herself to relax. "Oh, Steven, I—I thought you were in bed."

"I _was,_ but I was just trying to contact Ja…" Steven paused, then thought better of bringing it up around her again. "…never mind. Um… are you okay, Pearl? You look upset."

Pearl's eyes widened again and she reached up, frantically wiping at her eyes and forcing a weak smile at the boy. "Oh, it's nothing, Steven. I wanted to come out and… check on you, that's all."

 _She's lying._ Steven thought. He couldn't help but realize how much it sounded like something Garnet might say. Steven tried to think of the right words to say aloud, not wanting to risk upsetting her any further. Fortunately, Pearl jumped in before he had a chance to speak up. "So, how's… Jasper?"

"She's not back yet, if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh, good…" Pearl muttered, trying to make sure that Steven didn't hear her; she failed. They both fell silent, then Pearl spoke again, saying something that Steven didn't quite expect, "I'm… sorry, Steven." Steven's eyes widened and he tried to hide his shock at her question.

"What?"

"I said… I'm sorry." Pearl repeated. "I—I know that you want to help her… I know that you want to _save_ her. Heh… Rose was the same way. Always had the best intentions at heart. She was stubborn, always did what she wanted." She chuckled sadly as she reminisced on Rose Quartz. "She tried to heal the rest of the Crystal Gems after the Diamonds set off their Corruption Song, but… it never _stuck,_ and it crushed her when she realized that. She would try over and over and over again, trying to save them, restore them to their original forms and help them remember who they once were. But, at the end of the day, it was only me, Garnet, and herself that she had saved from the Diamonds."

Steven looked at the floor, a solemn look in his eyes, but he remained silent, waiting for Pearl to continue.

"Then, when you succeeded where Rose failed, I just… put you down because of it. I should've been proud of you, _happy_ that you may've found the key to healing Corruptions, but… I'm _not._ I… _can't._ I guess a part of me is a little disappointed, the fact that Rose _could've_ saved them back then, but she didn't."

"She didn't know how."

"And I think I'm a little frustrated _because_ she didn't know. So many Gems were transformed into savage monsters that day and all we could do was stand by and let it happen, powerless to do anything more to save them… or so we thought at the time. It hurt to see them like that, once proud soldiers turned into—into _animals._ We all had friends among them, and it hurt to lose them all at once like that. It was like all of them had been shattered, gone forever. Of course, they were still alive in their bubbles, but… we could never have them back again. A part of me just didn't want to admit that we _could've_ saved them, we _should've_ saved them… but we didn't. A part of me still doesn't."

Steven's voice was calm and soft as he spoke, "…Wh-Why are you telling me this? You don't have to think about that anymore, we _can_ save them now. It may take a while to heal all of them, but we still can!" Steven smiled at the pale Gem, but she only looked away, wiping at her eyes as tears formed in them, causing Steven's optimistic expression to vanish.

"I know, Steven, I know… but we let them suffer for _five thousand years._ It—It feels _unforgivable."_

"But it's not. I'm sure all of them would understand that there was nothing in your power to help them at the time. Sure, they were trapped in their own consciousness, tortured by their worst fears and memories for thousands of years with no esca… oh, sorry. But I think they would forgive youboth for that." Steven smiled at her again and, finally, Pearl returned it, chuckling sadly as a couple of tears began to streak down her face.

"Sometimes… you sound just like her." Pearl said, her voice breaking as she looked up at him with a sad smile.

 _But I'm not her and I'm not like her! I'm Steven! The only one that I'm 'like' is me!_

Steven's smile fell as he thought back to what he'd said to Jasper. He tried so hard to be himself, a completely separate individual from Rose Quartz whether he had her gem or not, but it seemed like, no matter what he did, he always seemed to echo the words she said over five thousand years ago which, more often than not, turned certain Gems against him completely. He knew Pearl said that, not out of malice, but out of appreciation and compassion and that he should've been proud to hear those words, but deep down, it _hurt._ Why couldn't he just be Steven Quartz Universe?

He looked at Pearl and found her staring past him, a distant, mournful look in her eyes. Steven turned around and followed her gaze, realizing that she was staring longingly at the portrait of Rose Quartz that hung over the front door. Steven stared at it himself for a long time, unsure of what to think, until he noticed something out the corner of his eye, what looked like a brilliant golden light, almost blinding, even when he wasn't looking directly at it.

"Huh?" He turned to Pearl for a second, then glanced upstairs, his eyes widening and stars entering his pupils when he saw where that glow was coming from. Jasper's gem levitated up off of the end-table and hovered above the floor of the loft beside his bed, a brilliant amber glow surrounding it. Within seconds, a glowing white silhouette appeared from it, cycling through what looked like hundreds of old regenerations. Steven glanced towards Pearl again, watching in surprise as her own gem glowed as she summoned her spear.

"No, _no!"_ he shouted at her, jumping from the stairs and pulling the sharp weapon from her grasp. "We're not going to fight her!" Pearl stared down at him, eyes wide in shock as he pulled the weapon out of her thin hands; she looked a little hurt. Steven reflected her distressed expression as he said, barely above a whisper, "Just trust me." She continued to stare down at him, then closed her eyes, sighing as the spear disappeared into a cloud of white sparkles, then nothing.

Steven smiled silently at her, then looked back up at the loft, just in time to see the silhouette cycle past her Corrupted form, then finally take her half-Corrupted humanoid form as the light faded away. Jasper lightly landed on both feet, visibly swaying. Her eye was closed as she struggled to regain her balance, only to collapse onto one knee with a weak cry of what sounded like pain. Steven winced as her impact shook the floor.

Steven stepped towards the stairs, but Pearl instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks; he looked up at her concerned gaze, then back at the half-Corrupted Gem on the loft.

"Jasper…?"

She groaned as she opened her eye to look at him. _"Ugh…_ St-Steven…"

"Jasper." Steven pulled from Pearl's grasp with little effort and started up the stairs towards Jasper. He heard Pearl let out a soft gasp and fearfully whisper his name, but he blocked it out. He stopped a few inches beside the Quartz, deciding better of trying to get any closer to her. He was a bit disappointed to find that her uniform hadn't changed at all, at least not significantly. Steven tried to rest a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from his touch. "Jasper,we need to talk." Jasper said nothing, only turned her head and looked up at him through her blonde bangs, an agitated look in her bright yellow eye. Steven gave her a more stern glare in response.

" _Jasper,_ we need to talk." he repeated. "All five of us."

"No. We don't." Jasper snarled, looking away from him again.

"Yes, we do! Jasper, if we're going to help you, then you need to settle your differences with the Crystal Gems."

Jasper smirked and made a low sound, reminiscent of a snicker. "Calling those rejects _Gems…_ it's a disgrace."

"Jasper, you at least have to try."

"What if I don't _want_ to try?!" Jasper retorted, raising her voice suddenly. "They're _embarrassments,_ every last one of them. They don't need me, just like I don't need _them."_

"Don't call them 'embarrassments', Jasper." Steven said sternly, forcing a hard look at her through his anxiety as he stood next to her. She wasn't fazed by his look, nor did she even turn to face him. She glared idly, bitterly at the floor as if even it had done something to wrong her.

"That's what they are. Embarrassments. To Homeworld, to Gems all throughout the galaxy…"

"But _why?!_ What makes them any different from any other Gem? Just because they don't fall in line with the rest of Homeworld?!"

" _Yes."_ Jasper said bluntly. She groaned as she shifted onto her knees and made an exaggerated gesture in Pearl's general direction. "Pearls are meant to be servants, _slaves_ to the higher ups. Not soldiers who can trot around acting like they can do anything they want!" Steven flinched at her words and Pearl looked away with a strange look in her eyes, both fists clenched tightly at her sides as if she were resisting the urge not to summon her spear. "Quartzes are meant to tower over their enemies, Quartzes are meant to be intimidating warriorsthat can smash their enemies into the ground without any effort! But Amethyst… _isn't,_ she's a runt who couldn't intimidate a gem shard much less an opponent on the battlefield. She's a _joke!"_

"No, _she's not!"_ Steven yelled, stomping a frustrated foot to the floor. Jasper looked up at him with a wide eye, as if she'd been caught off-guard by his outburst, and Pearl looked equally surprised. "The Diamonds taught you to believe that Gems are wrong and have to be shattered if they don't fit into the caste like everyone else, but they're _wrong_ , Jasper, and you need to understand that! Pearl isn't a servant, but she isn't defective either. She's a loyal, honorable, respectable Gem and a warrior, whether you want to admit it or not. And maybe Amethyst isn't the strongest Gem in the galaxy, but she's still talented with her whip and can do the same things that you can do, overcooked or not!"

Jasper said nothing, only stared up at him, her eye widened in surprise that he was actually raising his voice to her.

"She's not defective either, Jasper, none of them are. Because 'perfect' doesn't always mean 'the same', 'perfect' can mean _'imperfect'_ too. I mean, look at you. You're half-Corrupted, your legs can't support your weight anymore, you can't even summon your weapon!" Jasper flinched at the realization and looked away with a barely audible growl. "But does that make _you_ defective? Does that mean you need to be shattered? Does that make you _any_ different at all from the Gem that you used to be?!"

The growl rumbling in Jasper's throat increased in volume, but she said nothing.

"Well? _Does it?!"  
_

Jasper snarled in frustration, her clawed hands tightening into fists. _"Agh…_ yes, it _does!"_ She punctuated the last word by slamming one fist to the floor of the loft; it felt like she made the entire Temple tremor with her strike. Steven stumbled back, but he was only thankful that she hadn't used both fists or the loft may've fallen apart right beneath them. "I've already told you… you should've just shattered me instead of putting me in that—that _bubble_ to suffer! I used to be everything… but now, I'm nothing! I've lost everything I have and I can never get it back again. My home, my colony… my Diamond. All of it… _gone._ I don't see why you can't understand this!"

"Jasper…"

" _No!_ I need to be shattered… I'm a disgrace to Homeworld, I'm a disgrace to _everyone, everything…_ I'm a disgrace to the Gem I used to be! At least, if you'd shattered me… I wouldn't have to know how far I've fallen. I wouldn't have to _suffer_ anymore. You may've healed my Corruption, but I've suffered ever since the day I lost _her…"_ Steven opened his mouth to say something as Jasper hid her face in her hands, but he couldn't tell if she was crying or not. He closed his mouth again, unsure of what to say, unsure if _anything_ he came up with would be anything but bluntly denied by her.

"Jasper?" Jasper winced slightly, quickly realizing that that wasn't the voice of Steven speaking to her. Steven turned to look, pleasantly surprised to find Pearl hesitantly starting up the stairs towards both of them. "I-If I may…" Jasper said nothing, but peered at the Gem through her clawed fingers, giving Pearl a hard, intimidating look. Pearl took that as the closest thing she'd get to a 'yes', and continued regardless of Jasper's reaction.

"I… I know how you feel. You may not believe it, but I do."

Jasper growled softly, but responded anyway, "How could a Pearl… _ever_ understand how I feel? You're supposed to be a preprogrammed drone,nothing more."

Pearl winced and struggled to bite back a snide comeback. _"Maybe so,"_ she began through gritted teeth, then began talking normally after taking a deep breath. "but I'm not like other Pearls, I'm sure you understand that by now." She forced a small smile, trying to make herself feel proud of that status; it was hardly doing her any good and her smile quickly vanished, and her expression fell significantly when Jasper spoke again.

"That's nothing to be proud of."

" _Wha…?!"_ Pearl let out a shrill snarl of her own. "I—I don't… you are just _impossible,_ you know that?! I'm trying to reach out to you, and you _still_ push me away! I swear, you're as bad as Ame…" She stopped short when Steven reached up and rested a hand on her arm, looking up at her with a mildly disappointed look. With that, Pearl took a long, deep breath, then continued, sounding much calmer. "A Pearl or not, I'm just trying to help you."

"I don't need your help."

"No, you're just too stubborn to admit it." Pearl pointed out tersely. Jasper's eye widened again at that and she looked at Pearl with a mixture of malice and shock that a Pearl was actually standing up to, well, _anyone._ Pearl smirked down at her. "Now, listen to me, Jasper. I used to have a close relation with Ro… with a _Gem,_ much like your relationship with your Diamond."

Jasper's eye narrowed again. "You know nothing about us."

"Except I _do._ I know the way you felt, I _understand_ the way you felt with her better than anyone. I was in your place once, after all."

"Nothing more than a Pearl's loyalty to her owner. You don't know _real_ love, _real_ admiration, or _real_ trust! I've known it since the day I emerged from this hunk of rock, while _you_ just had it programmed into your head."

"Oh, _is that so?!"_ Pearl snapped, reaching the end of her rope again. "I'll have you know that the love between me and Rose Quartz was very much real! Just as real as your love for Pink Diamond!"

"Oh, really, _Pearl?"_ Jasper grinned sadistically at her. "Then tell me about how you felt about her, about how much you adored and admired her. Go ahead, _enlighten me."_

"It—It… I didn't love her because she was my owner, if that's what you're thinking!" Steven reached out towards her again, but Pearl shrugged him away, taking a daring step towards Jasper. "I loved her because she was the first Gem to treat _me_ like a Gem! A _Gem,_ not just her slave or a toy to be flaunted about! Can _you_ say as much?!" Jasper's malicious grin abruptly disappeared with the words, and was replaced with a livid expression.

" _You…_ you _dare!?"_

"Yes, yes I do." Pearl stated, not even smiling in triumph this time. "You really think you meant anything to her? Anything at all? You were nothing more than another pawn in their little game, an insignificant part of a much _bigger_ picture. Yellow Diamond turned her back on you as soon as you weren't her perfect little status symbol anymore, and I can guarantee that Pink would've been no different!"

" _LIAR!_ You—You know nothing of what we had! You _never_ will!"

"Oh, but I do." Pearl said with a slight smile as she stared down at Jasper. The Quartz was shaking, a half livid, half manic look in her eye as she crouched there, subconsciously digging her clawed fingers into the wooden flooring and tearing it apart. "In fact, I probably know more about her than you do… considering I once served her." With those words, Steven's eyes went wide and he let out a surprised gasp, while Jasper simply turned away from the scrawny Gem, unable to look her in the eye anymore.

"You can sit there and glorify Pink Diamond's image all night long, Jasper, but it won't change anything."

" _Stop…"_ Jasper snarled, just loud enough for Steven to catch it. Pearl didn't.

"You did anything and everything she told you without question, or risked facing execution." Pearl's smirk grew a little. "It's almost like _you_ were just a Pearl in her eyes."

Jasper snapped. With an enraged scream, she pushed off of the floor and lunged straight towards Pearl, crashing into her and pinning her to the floor. Pearl's gem glowed as she prepared to summon her weapon, but Jasper was faster, latching all five fingers around the edges of the smooth white cabochon. She squeezed it slightly and the glow disappeared, Pearl letting out a strangled cry beneath her.

"I said _stop."_ Jasper said, her voice eerily calm. "You just don't know what's good for you, huh?"

Steven let out a whimper, covering his mouth as tears formed in his eyes. "P-Pearl…" He went to summon his shield, but decided against it. If he attacked her, all Jasper had to do was tighten her grasp and Pearl would be… she would be… Steven squeaked as the awful thought passed through his mind, the tears beginning to streak down his face. Pearl opened and closed her mouth a time or two, then stopped, not wanting to risk saying the wrong thing, so Steven spoke in her place.

"Jasper… l-let her go."

Jasper looked at him out the corner of her eye. "And why should I, runt?On Homeworld, she would be shattered for blasphemy. Why should it be any different here?"

"Because this isn't Homeworld!" Steven pointed out.

"Don't remind me."

"Jasper, please, just—just listen for a second, okay?" Steven began. He paused and, when she didn't interrupt, he continued. "You may not believe it, but—but all of us! We're all the same!"

"I… wh-what?!" _  
_

"Just—Just hear me out, okay?" Steven said quickly. "You and Pearl are still trying to recover, even years later, from losing the Gems that you loved the most; Pearl lost Rose, you lost Pink. An-And you and Amethyst... you're both Quartz soldiers, and you're both always longing to be something bigger and stronger than what you are! But you're not... and you know that you're not because you've been beaten and you've lost so many times in the past... but that doesn't stop either of you from trying! And, then there's you and me… the two of us just want to find our places in this world, but… we can't." Steven smiled up at Jasper while she stared blankly at the floor, hand still latched onto Pearl's gem. "Don't you see? You and me and Amethyst and Pearl, you're all the same. _We're_ all the same."

Jasper for silent for a second, two, then she began to chuckle softly under her breath, the sound thick with pain and bitterness. "You sound… just like her…"

"Wha? You—You mean… Rose?"

" _Pink Diamond._ You sound just like saw good in everyone and everything, no matter how defective they may've been. The only upside is that _she_ was smart enough to put _Homeworld_ first."

"They're not defective, Jasper, I've already told you this." Steven said. "They're just… _different,_ that's all."

"But 'different' isn't _right."_

"But you're different too, you've been different since the very beginning!"

Jasper gave him a harsh look and growled in warning, but otherwise, said nothing.

"The other Quartzes were really energetic and playful like Amethyst, I saw them myself at the Human Zoo. But…"

"Wait… they weren't shattered?"

"Huh? Oh, no, they… seemed okay."

"She… she told me they were shattered. Every last one of them." Jasper reminisced. "Yellow told me that they were defective and they had to be purged, that they were useless to Homeworld… 'nothing… lost'." She paused, then smirked and began chuckling eerily again. "Now, _I'm_ the one that's 'nothing lost'. Those defective Quartzes from Beta were kept around as guards after the War, while I was just… thrown away, forgotten. Nothing… l-lost…" Her voice broke slightly as she trailed off, and the anxious expressions on Pearl and Steven's faces morphed into ones of concern as they looked at the Quartz.

Her grasp on Pearl's gem dampened as she hung her head, giving Steven the chance to pull her hand away from Pearl's gem, before attempting to hug the mourning Quartz, but this time, Jasper shoved him away with a grunt. She wasn't crying, but it still hurt Steven to see her looking so uncharacteristically… _broken._

"Jasper," Pearl said as she got up off of the floor, caressing her gem slightly. "I-I'm sorry, but… I was just trying to help. I mean, I know how you feel, whether you want to admit or not. I've been there before, with Rose. I felt the same way you're feeling right now… for fourteen years." Jasper scoffed dismissively, but Pearl ignored it. "If anyone here can relate to the way you feel, then it's going to be me."

"But you're… a _Pearl."_ Jasper retorted, half to herself.

"Y-Yes… _yes,_ I _am_ a Pearl, but that makes me no different than any other Gem and that makes me no less a Gem than _you_ are. Now let's talk about this. Just forget what I _am_ long enough to listen to the words that I have to say."

There was a pause, then Jasper scoffed bitterly. "I'm listening."

Pearl hesitated for a moment, wondering whether or not Jasper was being sarcastic, then spoke, "I—I _loved_ Rose Quartz. Not as my owner, not as my leader, but as a friend." Steven sat down on the side of the bed, preparing for a story. "She was the first one to treat me as her equal, to treat me like a real _Gem,_ to make me feel like I was more than just a status centuries, back when I served Pink Diamond, I only knew two things: that I was made to serve, no questions asked, no matter what order I was given, and that my existence was meaningless. _My_ opinion, what _I_ thought, what _I_ wanted meant absolutely nothing. They didn't let me forget that either." "When I first saw Rose Quartz, one of the first soldiers to be formed on Pink's new colony, Earth, I didn't really think that much of her. I saw Quartz and Ruby soldiers daily, so she was nothing new. Just another Gem brainwashed into fighting on Homeworld's behalf.

"But Pink Diamond said that she was one of the most perfectly formed Gems she'd ever seen." Jasper sneered at those words. "So, a few weeks after Rose arrived to Homeworld, Pink Diamond decided to give me away, gifting me to Rose Quartz as her personal servant. But, at the time, I'd only known one Gem, the one I was made for, the one that I served for centuries, and that Gem was Pink Diamond. I knew that Quartzes was _savages,_ so, as you can well imagine, I didn't have the best outcome in mind at the time. I tried to argue with Pink Diamond's decision at first but, as you can see, those arguments fell flat." She smiled slightly to herself. "Now, I'm glad that they did."

"I went to serve Rose Quartz for the first time with the worst-case scenario in mind, imagining an aggressive, abusive warrior that was always in battlefield mode. Instead, she was one of the most respectable Gems I'd ever met, nothing like how I pictured a huge Quartz soldier. She was serene as a Sapphire, but had the ferocity of a Ruby when she was on the battlefield, the perfect middle ground between two clashing personality traits. She didn't see me as her servant, but as another Gem. I was unfamiliar with the way she treated me at first, I was unfamiliar with the entire concept of _freedom…_ until I went with her to her birth planet, Earth, where she was to assist in the creation of the new colony.

"That was when she presented to me the beauty and uniqueness of this planet and the creatures dwelling here. No two of them, humans or otherwise, were the same, and Earth, like the beings here, changed all the time. It's nothing like Homeworld, and the beings here are nothing like Gems, and that's what Rose Quartz loved so much about it. Humans weren't formed with a certain purpose in mind, they can choose to do anything and everything they want without the risk of being destroyed for it. Of course, they lose a lot of their potential due to their undeniably short lifespans, but that leaves a lot of potential for us Gems." Pearl looked Jasper right in the eye. "Homeworld wouldn't have lost the War if they weren't so afraid of _change."_

"It has nothing to do with cowardice." Jasper said. "You stepped beyond your boundaries and Rose _encouraged it._ You both should've been shattered for such… such _disgusting_ presentation."

" _What?!"_ Pearl snapped. "I—I… you… _ugh._ What is _wrong_ with you?! Are you so brainwashed by Homeworld's propaganda that…?"

"It's not propaganda," Jasper interrupted. "it's _truth._ The Gems of Homeworld have been around much longer than Rose's rebellion, and we've been around much longer than _the Earth."_

"That doesn't mean anything! At least _I_ was formed on Homeworld, but you emerged from the soil of the Earth! You were nothing but another Quartz soldier mass-produced here because the rest weren't enough! Admit it, you were never anything more than a _pawn!"_

Jasper clenched her fists again and stared Pearl down from the floor. _"Say that again, you little…!"_

" _Nooo!"_ Steven shouted, jumping up the bed and summoning his shield as he stood between the Gems. Both of them looked on in shocked silence.

"S-Steven?" Pearl said, almost whispering. Jasper said nothing this time.

"I said _no!_ You're not doing this again, neither of you!"

"But she's just so…!"

" _Neither of you!"_ Steven furiously reiterated. "All I want is to help another Homeworld Gem… but you won't even let me do that! _You"_ —he gestured towards Pearl—"keep finding some way to upset her or anger her! And _you"_ —he gestured towards Jasper—"are too stubborn to listen to a word Pearl says just because of what she used to be! _Who_ she used to be! I don't care what she was _made_ for, Jasper, we're on _Earth_ now. And, on Earth, it doesn't matter if she's a Pearl or a Quartz or… whatever! She's still your _equal!_ We're _all_ equal here!"

Jasper sneered again, but said nothing, and Pearl crossed her arms, looking away ashamedly. Steven let out a heavy sigh and allowed his shield to dissipate once he was sure a fight wasn't going to start up between them again. He stepped back so that he had a good view of both Gems.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you two, but… I don't want you guys to hate each other. I—I can't stand to see you guys fighting anymore."

"Oh, Steven, we don't…"

Jasper interrupted Pearl with a snicker. "Why? It hasn't bothered you before."

"Jasper, _please,_ can't you at least _try_ to be a civilized Gem? Would you rather we had left you out in the wilderness to be shattered by some Corruption or a group of angry, scared humans?" Jasper opened her mouth, but Steven stopped her. "Wait, don't answer that, I think I already know the answer. But you really need to be more thankful. If it weren't for me, you'd still be Corrupted, and if it weren't for me, you'd be in pieces right now!"

Jasper's eye widened slightly, then she narrowed it again, glancing away. "You're right. I _should_ be."

"And you're _going_ to be before long." Steven said sternly. "Now, I'm going make this work, Jasper, no matter what you have to say about it. I made it work for Peridot and Lapis, so I'm going to make it work for you too! Nobody's going to fight, and we're all going to work together and be _nice"_ —he shot a glance at Pearl out the corner of his, making her shrink away—"to each other until you find somewhere else to go."

"It'd better be soon, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to take this Crystal Gem _propaganda."_

"But we can't set you loose into the world unless you _prove_ to us that you've changed, and that you're willing to do better!"

"What?!"

"Otherwise, we'll risk setting you loose onto the world and having you wreak havoc on the town. You just need to prove that we can _trust you,_ got it?"

"Shouldn't be too hard. Considering…"

Steven pretended he didn't hear that. "And you're going to start by apologizing to Pearl for what you said!"

Jasper's eye went wide as she looked at him, and she looked at Pearl bitterly. The skinny Gem simply looked down at Jasper with a smug smile on her face.

" _Ugh…_ why should I? We have nothing to say to each other."

"Because you're on _our_ turf now, Jasper," Pearl responded. "and you're under _our_ roof. So that means you abide by _our_ rules, whether you like it or not."

* * *

The sound of the tide coming in roared loudly in Steven's ears as he stepped out onto the porch, the screen door clattering shut behind him. He turned his attention towards the shore where Jasper was sitting, idly watching the waves. Steven stepped towards the wooden steps, but momentarily stopped himself, glancing over at a hole torn through the window that overlooked the beach. Jasper had been angry before, especially over what Pearl had said to her, and he found himself feeling more than a little hesitant about getting close to her right now.

Testing the waters, he stepped to the bottom of the porch and cupped his hands around his mouth, calling the Gem's name. She jumped slightly and cast a glance over her shoulder at him, then turned away again, not saying a word. He decided that was the closest thing to a good sign that he was going to get and hesitantly started towards her.

"Jasper? Can… we talk?" Steven stopped a couple of feet behind her, waiting patiently for a response.

Jasper scoffed, half to herself. "Do I have any choice in the matter?"

"…Not really." Steven admitted sheepishly.

"That's what I thought."

"Jasper, she was just trying to help. You can't just attack anyone who talks back to you like that, it's going to happen one way or another."

"She didn't have to pull her weapon on me either. So what?"

Steven gave her a flat look, even though she was turned away. "You threw her through the window, of course she was going to fight back!"

"But she's a _Pearl!"  
_

"She's a _Gem,_ Jasper, just like the rest of us. Being a Pearl has nothing to do with it."

Jasper sighed. "You can tell me that all night long, it's not going to change a thing. She's a servant and she overstepped her boundaries. _Thrice._ She's lucky that was all I did."

Steven flinched at those words, but forced himself to keep his composure, letting out a frustrated sigh. "You know what would've happened if you'd tried anything else."

"Yeah, you would've tried to talk me to death. Maybe you would've sicced that tiny Amethyst on me. I don't think I have anything to worry about."

"Except you still can't fight, Jasper. And what about Garnet? She defeated you on that Homeworld ship and she even poofed you in one hit back in Beta! Smokey Quartz did too, and Peridot… and Lapis, Stevonnie, um… and, uh…"

"That's _enough."_ Jasper snapped. Steven took that is a warning and fell silent, excluding him muttering a small apology under his breath.

Steven stood there in silence for a few seconds, then stepped forward and sat down on the sand beside Jasper, prompting a hostile glare from her; he ignored it.

"There's… something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What if I don't want to talk?" Jasper snarled.

"Well, let's just say I'm not going to leave until you do." Steven grinned up at her and she looked away with an agitated grunt. He decided to turn his attention to the waves instead. "I—I wanted to talk to you about the Great Gem War. Or, specifically, your Diamond. _Pink_ Diamond." Jasper's eye went wide at the mention of her fallen Diamond, but she still didn't look at the boy, just stared blankly at the ocean.

"Why?"

"You and Pearl were arguing about Pink Diamond back in the Temple. Pearl said that she was ruthless and evil like the other Diamonds, but you keep saying that she was the best thing to happen to the Diamond Authority, but that's all you've ever really told me about her. So… I wanted to hear your side of the story. I only ever hear about the War from Gems who fought on the behalf of Rose Quartz and opposed Homeworld, so now, I actually have a chance to hear about it from a Homeworld Gem." He grinned expectantly at her again, but it went unnoticed.

"What is there to say? Wh-Why do you even _care?!"_

"I dunno, I just… do. I feel like it's something that I _should_ know, but don't. You and one of those Rubies nearly killed me over what my mom did to Pink Diamond, and I was even put on trial for it back on the Gem Homeworld. I don't _know_ what really happened five thousand years ago, Jasper, but… don't you think I _deserve_ to know?"

Jasper was silent for a moment. "You don't 'deserve' anything. You shouldn't even _exist!"_

"Wh-What?" Steven said, caught off-guard by her venomous words.

"Rose Quartz should've had her gem smashed into dustfor what she did. Starting a Rebellion, shattering a—a _Diamond,_ she deserved nothing more than death. A slow, torturous one preferably. And if she was shattered, then you wouldn't exist either, would you? You're nothing but a constant reminder that Rose never got what was coming to her, that she wasn't shattered, wasn't Corrupted, that she was allowed to live a long, happy life… but _I_ didn't! I _suffered_ because of what she did!"

"And I'm… sorry to hear that, Jasper. If it had been me in her place, then I wouldn't have done that."

"You _say_ you wouldn't have done that."

"I _know_ I wouldn't! I've never shattered a Gem, and I never _will!_ You can trust me on that!"

"That's _exactly_ what she said! And then she turned around and shattered her anyway! She's a _traitor,_ they all are! And there's nothing you can say to change that!"

Steven opened his mouth, but closed it again, taking a couple of deep breaths before he continued, feeling tears brimming in his eyes as he spoke. "Jasper… don't you… d-don't you think _I_ feel the same way?" Jasper glanced towards him as he looked away, suppressing a sob. "She said that she would _never_ shatter a Gem, that the Crystal Gems never break other Gems to win their battles. She even bubbled away one of her own, Bismuth, because _she_ wanted to shatter the Homeworld Gems… but Rose didn't, and then she just went ahead and shattered Pink anyway. The Gems say that she did what she had to do, but I still feel so… wrong. _Betrayed._ I accidentally unbubbled Bismuth and she attacked me because she thought I was Rose, just like you, and I had to poof her… bubble her away again because she was too—too… _dangerous."_

Steven trailed off as the tears formed in his eyes and streamed down his cheeks, so he hid his face. Jasper looked away and said, in a low voice, "Stop." but it was too quiet for Steven to hear.

"I—I thought Rose Quartz was perfect, because the Gems always talked about her like she was. I thought she was kind, an-and—and _merciful…_ but now—now I know that she's… she's no better than Homeworld. She's no better than—than the Diamonds! She lied to me, lied to Bismuth, lied to… to _everyone,_ and then she had me just so she didn't have to deal with the guilt of it anymore, so that _I_ could take the blame for what _she_ did. All I do is remind everyone of _her,_ and remind everyone of what—what _she_ did…" He glanced down at his exposed gem and placed his hand over it. "I-I'm sorry, Jasper… I—I'm so sorry… th-that I…"

He gasped softly one two huge hands latched on his shoulders and lifted him effortlessly off of the ground, held up at arm's length in front of Jasper as she stared him down with her intense yellow eye. To his surprise, there wasn't a look of unadulterated rage burning within it. He didn't know what she was going to say and, honestly, he expected the worst... that is, until she actually spoke.

"Stop." Jasper said in a surprisingly calm tone of voice. She waited a second for Steven to say something, then continued, "You're not her, okay?"

"But–But I thought… y-you said…"

 _"I know what I said,_ but… that was a mistake. I don't know _what_ you are, I don't know _who_ you are, but you're not her. Rose Quartz was a selfish, manipulative clod, she wasn't all she was cracked up to be. But you, you're different. You've proven to me on several occasions that you're different, that you actually care and it isn't just some form of manipulation. You gave me another chance, you—you saved me, and that's something that Rose _never_ would've done."

Steven didn't immediately respond, glancing away for a second, then looked back at Jasper. "Why—Why are you telling me this? This isn't like you."

"Because… I thought I was the only one who felt that way."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"Because... I understand how you feel."

"Wh-What?"

"I always thought I was the only one who felt betrayed by Rose Quartz!" Her voice rose slightly as she dropped Steven back to the ground, one of his feet splashing into the water as he landed. Steven opened his mouth to ask her to clarify, but she beat him to the punch. "Pink Diamond called her perfect... the best Quartz of her type to come out of this hunk of rock. Rose even had me convinced. When I first met her, I saw a plump, soft... thing. I didn't know what she was, but she didn't look or even sound like any Quartz soldier I'd ever met. But then, I fought toe-to-toe with her for the first time, and I realized that I had doubted her, that I had… misjudged her."

Steven sat down beside her again, patiently waiting for her to continue.

"She was one of the most powerful, skilled, agile soldiers I had ever met, on par with the likes of… heh, _me_ even. Pink Diamond saw us as her two best soldiers, and rightfully so. We even competed for the title of 'the perfect Quartz' from time to time, to the point it was like some sort of game between the two of us. I guess you could even say that we were…" Jasper gritted her teeth as she finished her sentence. "… _friends,_ once." Stars entered Steven's eyes as he looked up at her. "But, besides the fact, I saw her as one of the only real Quartzes to emerge from the Earth, the only other Gem that was worthy enough to be considered my own equal.

"The Amethysts and Flints from Prime were too… _childish,_ the other Jaspers and the Carnelians from Beta were too defective, but _she_ was different! Different from all of them! And then, the Rebellion came. She told me she was going to Earth, that she planned on fighting on this planet's behalf and saving its inhabitants. She wanted me to _join her,_ the nerve…" Jasper paused for a moment. "…but all I could do was send her away. She was a traitor, she betrayed me, she betrayed our Diamond… she betrayed _everyone!"_ She opened her mouth to continue shouting before Steven rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, suddenly making her freeze up.

A couple of seconds passed before her tense, anxious form and her clenched fists relaxed, then she let out an explosive sigh and jerked away from Steven with an agitated grunt. All the half-Gem could do was hide a mildly amused snicker behind his hand. "I—I never wanted to see her again. I _couldn't…_ or I would've shattered her on the spot! But… there was one last thing that I told her before we parted ways." Jasper trailed off, her face briefly twisting in confusion as if she had no idea why she was telling Steven all of this.

When she didn't continue for a good fifteen seconds, Steven decided to speak up. "And… what was that?"

There was a moment of silence before Jasper chuckled bitterly under her breath again. "Heh-heh… you really _don't_ remember, do you?" Steven only shook his head slowly, and Jasper sighed. "Heh, I guess I should know better. I told her that if she didn't want me to shatter any of her… _Crystal Gems,_ then she would spare the lives of Homeworld's soldiers in exchange." Steven's eyes widened in surprise at those words.

"What…? But… what do you mean? Why did you say that?"

"We fought on the same side once, we all did. Rose Quartz was never a shatterer, but she would if she was ordered to." Steven whimpered and suddenly felt nauseous at those words. "I could hardly bring myself to shatter the Gems I'd once fought alongside and sparred with. I couldn't shatter _her,_ believe it or not… I was given the chance, but I couldn't. I just _couldn't._ It felt like we were sparring all over again and it just felt so _wrong…_ well, until…" Jasper trailed off and didn't speak for a long time, so Steven chimed in and snapped her back to attention.

"Until… what?"

Jasper's eye widened slightly as she looked down at Steven, then it closed as she lowered her head, letting out a heavy, sorrowful sigh. Steven was so used to Jasper hiding her fear, her anxiety, and her sadness behind a laugh or at least a bitter chuckle, but this time, all he got was a soft exhale of air. It sounded foreign and a bit eerie, especially coming from a Quartz like Jasper.

"Until… the shattering of Pink Diamond."

 **Clocking in at almost 15,000 words! My longest chapter yet! Now, let's see if I can top _that!_ XD**

 **Finally got around to revising the ending. For those of you reading this chapter a second time, I changed the ending in its entirety because I decided the original had more holes in the plot than swiss cheese and I couldn't, for the life of me, make it work for the next chapter without almost completely negating canon. This may seem open-ended, but this is just leading into Jasper telling Steven about Pink Diamond and finding out the truth behind those dreams Steven had in chapter one. Yes, those dreams did have a purpose.**

 **And, despite how passive Jasper is being towards Steven right now, she still has a _looong_ way to go. At best, she's on the same level as Lapis back in _Ocean Gem_ and _Mirror Gem,_ docile and friendly towards Steven Universe. And _only_ Steven Universe, but don't worry, that'll change over time. Before too long, Jasper will accept Steven as her 'moral compass' sorta and he'll begin to help her improve her relationship with the other Gems. Don't worry, we're getting there.**

 **Oh, and more footage for the next episode(s) of season five, including a release date... sorta. Winter, that's all we know (which could be late November or early March 2018). Buuut let's focus on the hype right now, shall we? Without spoiling too much, you can sum it all up as: Steven and Connie have a falling out, Jasper and Bismuth have confirmed redemption arcs, Smokey Quartz is going to reappear, Stevonnie will also reappear... eventually, Lapis may or may not leave the Earth, and Lars says "Bingo! Bongo!" again. It's all worthy of one big "holy sh**", y'know?**

 **Alright, as per usual, stay tuned for chapter nine! And, hopefully, the wait is finally coming to an end!**


	9. Chapter IX - War Stories

**Finally, it is officially completed! The long awaited chapter nine! I swear, this is quite possible the most difficult chapter... scratch that, most difficult anything I've ever had to write, but hopefully, upcoming chapters won't take anywhere near as long for me to complete. Sorry if it's underwhelming, but I wanted this chapter finished and uploaded before everyone started to think I'd discontinued it altogether. And I apologize a bajillion times for that ludicrously long hiatus, writer's block is a b!tch. Alright, I bet you all want to jump right in, so I'll save my ramblings for the end (rhyme unintended). Please enjoy!**

Night had since fallen as Jasper and Steven sat at the shore, idly watching the inky black waves splashing upon the sand, the half Moon creating milky ripples on the water's surface in the distance. Steven had kicked his sandals off and sat with his legs stretched out in front of him, allowing the water to splash upon his bare toes. The water felt cold at first, but over time, he became used to the temperature and it began to feel comfortably tepid. Jasper had her knees bent, her arms wrapped around her legs and pulling them against her chest. When Steven glanced up at her, he couldn't help but notice the eerily distant look in her yellow eye as she stared out at the ocean. Her breathing was slow and calm.

Steven couldn't tell if she, too, was hypnotized by the ocean's calming trance, or if she was remembering her time trapped at the ocean's floor within a toxic Fusion. He shivered as he remembered Malachite's face stretching and distorting as her component Gems struggled to pull her apart, just before she was pulled into the ocean and didn't resurface for months.

As if on cue, Jasper closed her eye and sighed softly, catching Steven's attention. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get the chance to when Jasper spoke up first.

"I… still remember it as if it were yesterday." she began, her voice low and solemn. "Blue Diamond feared for her safety, so she had Pink Diamond remain on Homeworld for most of the War's duration. That is, until a couple of weeks prior to the War's end. So many of our best soldiers had been bubbled away by the Crystal Gems' forces, and by that point, we couldn't afford to lose anymore Gems. Even the mass-produced Quartzes from Beta weren't enough. So, despite Blue's warnings, Pink Diamond travelled to Earth herself to put this War to an end once and for all.

"It was just me and three of her best Ruby guards accompanying her. At the time, she believed it would be enough. The original plan was to confront Rose Quartz personally and remedy the issue, amiably if possible, pugnaciously if not." Steven screwed up his face in confusion at the unfamiliar words, but made no move to question her. "If it came down to it, she would evacuate Homeworld's forces from the Earth and the Diamonds would set off the Corruption Song. She had hoped it wouldn't come down to that, but it was an option on the table from the very beginning.

"Just before we arrived on Earth, a Tourmaline messenger was sent to the Crystal Gems' base to inform Rose of Pink Diamond's arrival, that she wanted to meet with her in a peaceful setting and talk things out with her. After that, all we had to do was wait. When we first landed, Rose Quartz had yet to arrive, so Pink decided to pass the time by exploring the local area. I accompanied her in order to keep her protected, while her Rubies guarded her Palanquin. That was… actually the first time I'd ever heard Pink Diamond admit her true feelings about the Earth."

Steven looked up at her in awe as her gem glowed with an amber colour, flickering and glitching momentarily before it cast a tall hologram in front of them, standing just in the water but not bothering the waves. Stars entered Steven's eyes as he looked at the figure towering over him; despite the fact that she was a translucent gold projection, Steven recognized her almost instantly. Her thick, fluffy hair, her elegant but simple ensemble, her thin regal figure.

"Pink Diamond…" Steven whispered to himself. His whole body felt a little bit colder when the hologram opened her mouth, speaking in Jasper's low, raspy voice, a distinct contrast from the feminine, motherly voice he remembered Pink Diamond having. However, what she said was all the same.

"I have always loved the unique beauty of this planet… it's a shame we cannot have both." Pink Diamond said, a hint of solemnity in her tone. She glanced sadly at the sandy ground beneath her, then a small smile appeared on her lips as she chuckled softly. "Heh, what would my sisters think of me? Saying something like that? This is _organic_ life, after all." She paused again, her smile disappearing. "And Homeworld needs their colony much more than they need short-lived lifeforms like these. Wouldn't you agree? Jasper?"

Jasper's gaze fell, trying to hide the downcast expression on her face. "Ye… Y- _Yes,_ my Diamond." she echoed softly.

Pink smiled slightly at Jasper's response, then looked up, seemingly at nothing in particular. She started forward a couple of steps, much closer to the two of them than Steven felt comfortable with, then reached out her hand, palm facing the two of them. Steven remembered her touching that strange tree he saw in his dreams, but in holographic form, it looked a bit awkward. Jasper hesitated for a second, then reached up a trembling red hand, her clawed fingers outstretched as she attempted to push her own palm against the hologram's.

"M–My Diamond…"

The projection glitched at her contact, then fizzled out entirely, vanishing in a cloud of white sparkles; the glow from Jasper's gem disappeared in tandem. With that, Jasper's fingers curled into a fist and she slowly recoiled her arm, letting out a solemn sigh as she continued to stare at where the hologram used to be. Steven noticed the moonlight glinting off a tear forming in her eye, but she squeezed it shut with a soft, disgusted grunt.

Steven forced a small smile at her and tried to rest his hand on her arm, but she used her opposite hand to bat him away, snarling softly as she glared down at him.

"Don't touch me, _runt."_ she warned, her voice low and dangerous.

"Sorry." Steven meekly apologized, looking away from her. "But, Jasper, it's okay. I know it hurts, but… it's okay to think about it. You _need_ to think about it, or it'll just hurt more."

Jasper scoffed in response. "How can thinking about it _ever_ make me feel better? Thinking about it won't bring her back. T-Talking about it won't make what happened any less… _tragic!"_

"I know it doesn't make sense, Jasper, but sometimes, Earth logic is backwards like that, y'know? And besides, that's what worked for me and Connie a while back, so…"

"What's a Connie?" Jasper interrupted, looking at Steven with a genuinely confused look on her face.

Steven's eyes widened at that question, momentarily thinking back to when Peridot made that same mistake and, more recently, how Aquamarine had referred to the "human specimens". He didn't want to go through this argument all over again, but he corrected her statement nevertheless with a bit a more irritation in his tone than he intended, "Not _a_ Connie, just Connie. She's my friend, you've seen her before."

"Oh, the _human."_ Jasper scoffed.

Steven looked up at her uneasily as she looked away, then sighed and decided to face the ocean again as well. "Yeeaaahh… _anyway,_ a while back, me and Connie were having trouble fusing because I was upset about some of the things I'd done before, and she was too. But, after we learned that thinking about it was okay, then that made everything better. Well… not _better,_ it still hurts a little to think about what happened to Bismuth and Eyeball and…" Steven trailed off for a moment, not noticing the weird look Jasper gave him at the mention of 'Eyeball'. He thought over his words before he continued, "…yeah, it still hurts to think about it, but… it doesn't hurt as badly anymore."

Jasper sighed, putting one of her arms behind her and propping herself up on it as Steven continued, "I think it'll help you too. You've kept that memory, your feelings, _everything_ about what happened to Pink Diamond locked away inside you for such a long time, no wonder it's bothering you so much now." He waited a few seconds for Jasper to respond. She never did. "Jasper… when _was_ the last time you talked about what happened to Pink Diamond?"

It took a few seconds for Jasper to finally acknowledge his question, and she did with an almost manic chuckle, tilting her head back just in time to see a shooting star streak across the night sky. "Over… five thousand years ago." Steven's eyes widened in shock, while Jasper said it as casually as ever, as if it were completely normal. "It was… right after Pink was shattered. I tried to speak to Rose Quartz, I tried to get answers out of her, but… I failed. Other than reporting the outcome of our mission to Yellow Diamond, I haven't spoken of it ever since."

Steven glanced at the gem on his stomach, lifting a hand and resting his palm against its faceted face. "What do you mean… you didn't get any answers out of Rose Quartz? What did she do? _What_ _did_ _she say?!"_ Steven found himself becoming increasingly worked up and was beginning to gradually raise his voice, so he quickly stopped himself, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths.

"She didn't say anything. She didn't really _do_ anything either." Jasper began, her voice eerily calm. "After the battle between us and Rose, it was only me, Ruby 4ND, and Pink Diamond herself left standing. By the time it was all over, I was alone. That Ruby was so injured that I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did. It wasn't until after Pink was shattered that she finally stopped fighting it and retreated into her gem. It was just me and Rose Quartz there, but I may as well have been alone.

"Once I recovered from the shock, I demanded answers from her. I demanded to know why she shattered her, why she gave up everything she had! Why she gave up… our friendship. I threatened to break her gem if she didn't tell me what I wanted to know, but… she didn't say anything. She stared at me for a few seconds, then she turned and walked away without a word. She didn't apologize or anything, she just… left me there, alone, with only Pink's shards and three Ruby gems to keep me company." Steven stifled a whimper at her words, digging his fingers into the sand beneath him.

"I don't know how long I stayed there on Earth, all I know is Ruby 8NB regenerated while I was there, but I didn't want anything to do with her. That was when we returned to Homeworld so that I could present the shards to the Diamonds, but that was the last I saw of her shards and the last I heard about her. Yellow Diamond seldom ever spoke of Pink after that and didn't like hearing about her either. I… guess that was just her way of mourning the loss. Forgetting she ever existed."

Jasper closed her eyes and breathed deeply while Steven squeezed his eyes shut, trying to come to terms with what he heard. "So… that's why you haven't talked about her since then? Because you thought it would be better to… forget it ever happened?" A couple of seconds passed and Steven looked up at her in concern, watching as Jasper stared at her clawed hand, flexing her fingers in and out.

"I _tried_ to forget about her; a part of me knew it was wrong, but… it was either that or break altogether. Then, all of those memories and all of those feelings I thought I'd never feel again came back when I was sent back to Earth, when I thought I was facing Rose Quartz herself all over again. I _hoped_ that I was, so that I could finally finish her off after all these years! But instead, I got her spawn in her place, bearing her gemstone, but not her memories, or her physical form or… _anything."_

Steven looked down ashamedly at his gem, or… Rose's gem. He wasn't quite sure whose gem it _really_ was. Either way, he felt a bit nauseous as he looked at it.

"I… I'm sorry, Jasper." The Quartz glanced down at him, a skeptical look in her eye as he continued. "I'm sorry that you can't get revenge for Pink Diamond because of… because of _me._ But this was mom's choice, not mine! I never asked to take the blame for the shattering of Pink Diamond, I never asked to be blamed by the others for their leader not being around anymore!" Tears began to spill down Steven's cheeks as he continued, hardly thinking his words over before he said them, "I—I never asked to be born! _I never asked for any of this!"_

He subconsciously dug his fingers into the cloth bandaging covering his chest, much like he would have with his shirt, curling up as much as he could as tears seeped from beneath his closed eyes. Jasper glanced down at him for a second, but quickly looked away. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt a slight twinge of concern and sympathy in her chest when she looked at how upset the boy was. She hardly recognized that feeling, nor did she particularly like it.

She clenched her hands into fists, trying not to let Steven get to her. A few moments passed until she finally decided to change the subject, asking something she'd been wondering about for a while now. If anything, it'd get her mind off of this.

"Why do you keep calling Rose Quartz that?"

Steven sniffled a couple of times and wiped his eyes, looking up questioningly at Jasper. "Wha… What do you mean?"

" _I mean,_ you keep calling her 'mom' instead of Rose Quartz." Jasper clarified, a tinge of irritation in her tone.

"Oh. Well, that's because she _is_ my mom… or _was._ She's… the one who brought me into this world, she's the one that was supposed to take care of me and protect me, and… love me. But she can't, because she's gone now, and I'm here in her place." Steven glanced sadly at the waves splashing upon the sandy shore, but even the calming roar of the seawater wasn't enough to calm him right now. He wiped away tears he felt forming in his eyes.

"Oh." Jasper sighed, half to herself. Steven couldn't help but notice how dejected and gloomy she sounded.

He lifted his hand and tried, once again, to rest it on her shoulder. This time, she made no move to pull away from his touch.

"Jasper, are you okay?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jasper sighed. "Yeah, it's just…" She looked up at the half Moon, stars millions of light-years away sparkling around it in the dark night sky. "…my mom's gone too."

After that declaration, Steven was left speechless. A part of him wanted to say something, _anything_ to console her, but another part of him was more content with staying silent for fear of saying the wrong thing. Jasper was silent as well, staring blankly out into the sea. Steven couldn't help but wonder if she even remembered he was there. He wasn't sure how long they sat there, but he decided it was time to go inside when he began to nod off. It took a bit of convincing before Jasper reluctantly gave in, using Steven as her unlikely crutch as they returned to the Crystal Temple.

As they walked, Steven happened to notice something peculiar about Jasper that he'd overlooked before. Her uniform looked relatively identical to its form prior to her regeneration, all except for one thing. The Yellow Diamond insignia adorning her chest wasn't yellow at all anymore. It was Pink.

"Looks like you that you took my suggestion to _heart."_ Steven joked with a cheeky smile at the Quartz. Once again, his attempt at comedy fell flat on Jasper and she simply glared at him, but said nothing.

On their way up the steps to the beach house, Steven noticed that Pearl was standing at the window just before she slinked away at his gaze. He "hmm"ed curiously to himself, then looked down at the steps as they passed by beneath his feet. He _understood_ why she had been watching them: she was worried about him. Who wouldn't be? Not only had he just returned from the Gem Homeworld, but he was out there alone with _Jasper_ as well. Regardless, he felt a touch betrayed, again beginning to feel like the Gems didn't trust him as much as they could.

When they stepped into the house, he noticed Garnet and Pearl standing near the couch, conversing softly before the door opened. Jasper slumped wearily against the wall and closed her eye with a soft moan, like she wanted to pretend she was anywhere but here. Steven decided not to say anything about how he felt about Pearl watching them out on the beach. Not yet, anyway.

"Oh. Steven, um… _Jasper,_ you're back." Pearl said, her tone suggesting she was speaking through gritted teeth or biting back the urge to panic.

"Well, we never really left." Steven corrected her with a smile. "So, um… Jasper can stay here tonight, right?"

Pearl opened her mouth to respond, but Garnet cut her off, "Of course, Steven. As long as she doesn't cause any trouble, she can stay here for as long as she needs to." Pearl sighed softly, a hint of irritation in the sound, but only Steven seemed to notice. He looked at her for a second, concerned, then looked up at Jasper. Her eye snapped open abruptly, as if she hadn't even been aware of the other Gems' presence until now. With a grunt, she forced herself into an upright position, a hard look in her eye. Steven tensed, but forced a wide grin at her instead, hoping to get her focused on something that wasn't her resentment at the two Crystal Gems.

"Oh, cool! That sounds alright, doesn't it, Jasper?" Jasper didn't respond, and it took a second for him to realize that she was shooting her hard, bitter glare, not at both Gems, but only at Garnet, who simply stood there, unfazed. Steven's smile disappeared and he tried his best to distract her from the Fusion's presence. "Jasper?" The Gem in question growled softly, and Steven didn't need future-vision to know what she was about to do. "Uh… J-Jasper?" He reached towards her, but it was already too late.

With a furious roar, Jasper pushed herself from the wall and dove at Garnet, ignoring Steven as he fearfully cried out her name. Pearl had her spear summoned in an instant and Steven's gem glowed as he prepared to summon his shield, but before Jasper's clenched fist could land on its target, Garnet had her gauntlets summoned and held them protectively between them. With a metallic thud, Jasper's clenched red hand smashed into the two golden stars on the back of the weapons.

"Ah! Wha…? But—But how?!" Jasper cried out, recoiling a step and standing with her feet apart to keep herself balanced; she swayed dangerously regardless.

Garnet smirked slightly and slid a forefinger across her visor. "Future vision." was all she said. That only seemed to anger Jasper even further.

"Agh… _I'll tear you apart!"_ Clenching her fists again, Jasper threw several punches straight at Garnet's face at just about every angle she could think of. Every last one was effortlessly blocked. At this point, Pearl had dissipated her spear and watched the one-sided fight in silence, while Steven still held his shield at the ready, just in case.

Garnet's smug smirk had since vanished and she said, in her usual deadpan tone of voice, "Not gonna happen."

Jasper let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a growl and roar. "You can't block forever, _Fusion!"_ She lunged straight towards Garnet, arms outstretched and her clawed fingers open, attempting to latch onto the Fusion and pull her apart. Garnet grabbed onto Jasper's hands at the last possible second, interlocking her own fingers with the Quartz's and squeezing her hands, not allowing her to pull free from her grasp.

"Except I can, and I _will_ if I have to."

With a forceful push against her, Garnet threw Jasper backwards. She staggered for a few seconds before she managed to catch herself on the wall just behind her. Steven jumped back with a startled yelp when she nearly crashed right into him. Jasper hung her head, breathing heavily, raking her claws across the wall and tearing four jagged marks into its surface. Steven noticed how uncomfortable Pearl looked, before she stepped over to Garnet and said something, too quietly for Steven to make out, but that was the least of his worries right now. Instead, he stepped over to Jasper and rested a hand on her shoulder, causing her to snap her head up to look at him, startled by his touch.

Steven was a bit unsettled himself by the unexpectedly cold look she gave him, but he didn't let her silent threat faze him. He didn't know why, but a part of him knew that she wasn't going to hurt him.

"Jasper, please, this has to stop." he softly pleaded with her. Jasper glared at him for several seconds more, then her gaze softened slightly as she looked at the floor.

"No… no, I—I won't let them beat me." she snarled quietly, half to herself. With an enraged cry, she ripped an entire chunk of wood out of the wall as she pushed off of it to face Garnet and Pearl again, where they held their ground. "Unh… _agh…_ I will not… be beaten… by another, ugh… _Fusion!"_ _"_ She let out an enraged battle cry as she rolled into her spin-dash attack, barrelling uncontrollably towards the two Gems. Fear stabbed into Steven's heart as he watched.

"Garnet, Pearl, watch out!" was all he could say.

However, they hardly needed to. Garnet stepped forward and pushed one of her gauntlets against the fiery ball, holding her back before striking her hard with the opposite weapon and forcing Jasper to unfurl from her attack prematurely. She staggered backwards and would've fallen if she hadn't quickly caught herself on the wall yet again. And, with that, she was right where she was only a few seconds ago, except this time, one of her legs collapsed beneath her weight and she fell to the floor with a defeated grunt.

"Jasper!" Steven cried out, dissipating his shield and rushing to her side. She looked up at him and opened her mouth to say something, but hung her head again, deciding against it. "Jasper, please, you can't keep fighting them like this! Even if you could hold your own against them before, you're still weakened by your Corruption and you can't even summon your weapon! You're just going to get hurt!"

" _Who cares if I get hurt!?"_ Jasper shouted at him. "I'll just come back anyway! And I'll keep coming back until that Fusion's gems are _dust!"_

Steven flinched at her words and he looked up at the other two Gems. Garnet clenched her fists, but said nothing, and Pearl looked deeply uncomfortable. He looked back down at Jasper who simply glared at the floor, not wanting to face any of them right now. "Jasper, come on, let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about!" she snapped. "I have nothing to say to your Pearl orthat Fusion! They're traitors, they mean _nothing_ to me!"

"But we can change that!" Steven said hopefully. "I thought you changed your mind about Fusion!"

"I _did…_ until I realized that it was a _poison._ Fusion does nothing but break you down from the inside out… it strips you of everything you once were! I mean… just look at these two!" Jasper lifted a shaking arm and gestured in Garnet's direction. "A loyal soldier and a respectable diplomat turned into… into a couple of rebels that have forgotten who they are. They're starved for each other… starved for _Fusion!_ It's _sick!"_

"Fusion is not a poison, Jasper." Garnet chimed in. Steven was surprised at how calm she sounded. "Fusion can be a wonderful experience for all Gems involved… as long as that Fusion is stable."

Jasper scoffed at her. "We have nothing to say to each other! _"_

"That's why you're so upset." Garnet continued regardless. "You know that Ruby and Sapphire formed the perfect Fusion on their first try, but all of the Fusions you have involved yourself in were toxic and unstable. Malachite, Tiger's Eye, and, a few eons ago, Rhodochrosite." Both Steven and Jasper's eyes widened at the last name she listed off. Steven bit back the urge to question the unfamiliar Fusion's identity. It could wait until later.

"H-How do you know about…?" Jasper trailed off with a disgusted grunt. "You know nothing about me! You act like you do, but you _don't!_ And you never will!"

"I know more than you may think, Jasper, but you won't admit it to yourself. You're _afraid_ to admit it." Jasper seethed as she glared up at the Fusion, but Garnet took a few daring steps in her direction despite the fact, dissipating her weapons as she went. "We don't want to fight you, Jasper. You're scared, you're hurt, you've been through a lot over the centuries." Jasper began to shake beneath her. "We just want to help you, that's what the Crystal Gems are here for."

Jasper growled. " _I'll destroy you!"_ She lunged at Garnet with a battle cry, but she managed to dodge the Quartz's attack by moving back a couple of steps, causing Jasper's claws to rake through nothing but the empty air. For a couple of seconds, everyone waited in tense silence for Jasper to make another move, but she never did. She crouched there, snarling under her breath and raking her claws against the floor.

Steven took a daring step towards Jasper, but he stopped abruptly when Pearl bravely strode up beside Garnet, spear summoned and held at the ready.

"You can't win, Jasper." Pearl told her bitterly. "Whether you're the 'perfect Quartz' or not, you're outnumbered, and you're not on Homeworld anymore. You don't have access to your high-tech weapons or any back-up. Face it, Jasper, you have lost, and so will the rest of Homeworld when the time comes."

Jasper stared up at her with a wide, manic eye, breathing heavily, but she didn't say anything. With a growl, she tried to pull herself forward and latch onto Pearl's scrawny form, but Pearl had her spear pointed precariously at Jasper's gem before she could get too close. Steven knew she was bluffing to scare Jasper away, but the sight of Pearl threatening to shatter another Gem made Steven tense up and feel more than a little anxious.

"Not another move." she challenged the Quartz.

Jasper froze, her golden pupil snapping from the sharp spear tip hovering just over her gemstone to the Pearl behind its hilt. Then, she narrowed her eye at Pearl and her gaze suddenly hardened. Pearl seemed to flinch for a split second, but she quickly regained her composure and she retained her hard, serious glare at the Quartz that crouched beneath her. A couple of seconds passed as they stared each other down, then Jasper's frown curled into a thin, devious smirk.

"Those are some big words coming from a _Pearl."_ she began, half to herself. "And what'll happen if I _do_ try to make another move? What are _you_ going to do about it? Shatter me, perhaps?"

Pearl's grip on the spear tightened. "Don't… don't give me any ideas."

"Then, go ahead, Pearl. Do it, shatter me!" Jasper said, her voice eerily calm. "If you have the audacity to threaten me, then surely you're brave enough to go through with it."

"Wh-What?"

"I think you heard me." Jasper snarled. "Do it, Pearl. I've got all night!"

Steven was tense and held his breath as he watched them and he wondered why Garnet wasn't making any move to stop her. That is, until Pearl shakily retorted, "I—I… _no!_ I won't do it!" Her spear abruptly disappeared, and Steven finally relaxed, allowing himself to breathe again. "The Crystal Gems have never shattered their enemies, and we aren't going to start today!"

Jasper stared up at her, wide-eyed, for several long seconds, then she looked away, chuckling softly. "Heh-heh… should've known. You're just as much of a coward as you look. Just another Pearl trying to make herself look big and strong in front of the higher-ups." She grinned mischievously up at Pearl, revelling in her anxiety and increasing rage. "Unless, of course, you'd like to prove me wrong."

Pearl growled quietly at her opponent. "I could beat you just as easily as any other Gem!"

"Hm… then go on, Pearl. I've got all the time in the world!" Jasper retorted, her tone becoming increasingly frustrated.

With a cry of exasperation, Pearl's gem glowed and her spear was re-summoned in an instant. "Agh… I am not going to stand for this any longer!"

She pointed her spear in Jasper's direction. Steven opened his mouth and took a step towards both of them to intervene, but before anyone could make a move, a booming voice cut all of them off.

" _ **THAT IS ENOUGH!"**_

Pearl let out a startled yelp and even Jasper flinched; both of them looked up at where Garnet stood, staring them down through her visor. Despite being unable to see her eyes, Pearl shrunk away from her furious gaze. Jasper looked stunned by the sudden outburst from the normally quiet, calm Fusion, and only Steven seemed to be relatively unfazed, if startled.

"Garnet?" he spoke up softly. A couple of seconds passed before she finally spoke again, sounding calmer now, but a hint of frustration remained in her tone.

"We are not here to fight each other!" Garnet stated, then she lowered her voice to a much softer, calmer tone as she said to Pearl, "This isn't what Steven wants for us. We promised him that we would give Jasper a chance."

Pearl snarled as she glared down at Jasper. "But she's just… so… ugh, insufferableand _inconsiderate!"_

Jasper opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off when Garnet spoke once more, retaining her stoic tone as if nothing had ever happened, "Perhaps we should give each other some space. Steven needs his sleep, so we can resolve this in the morning." She turned and started towards the Temple Gate without another word, only stopping when Pearl spoke up once more.

"Wait, we're just going to leave him out here alone? With _Jasper?!"_

"He's been alone with her before and she hasn't hurt him. Even before, when he and Connie were alone with her, they effectively held their own against her. Steven is will be just fine."

"Are you sure?" Pearl started after Garnet and she continued walking away. "M-Maybe one of us should stand guard… just in case?"

Garnet activated the Gate with her gems, then turned to look at Pearl. "If anything, that will only make matters worse. Jasper is still very uncomfortable and anxious around the rest of us. Steven is the only one she really trusts so far, that's how I know Jasper won't try to hurt him. She may be volatile and bitter, but she is more likely to direct any physical attacks to the architecture," They both glanced at the torn walls and floor around Jasper. "or one of us instead of him."

"But… I… h-how can you be so sure?" Pearl asked softly.

"When haven't I been?" Garnet said, running two fingers across the surface of her visor as she looked down at Pearl.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, then the red Fusion disappeared into her respective room. Pearl stared after her, watching the cerise Y-shaped design on the Gate's face fade into nothing, She stared at its empty grey surface for a long time before reactivating with the white glow of her own gem, a cyan design scrawling across it and opening once more. Just before Pearl stepped through the Gate, she looked towards Steven and Jasper, a sad, worried look in her eyes. He was standing beside Jasper, attempting to console her, to no avail. The Quartz herself was facing the floor, hardly moving and saying nothing.

She opened her mouth and stepped towards them, going to say something, but then she remembered what Steven had said to her before. He felt like she didn't trust him, he felt like she wasn't allowing him to grow up, and he felt like she didn't even care about him. Those facts hurt her all the way to her core; it felt like Rose herself was doubting Pearl's trust and loyalty to her, and the thought alone was enough to crush her from the inside out. With a quiet, shaky sigh, Pearl turned on her heels and stepped through the open Temple Gate, allowing it to close behind her.

Steven looked up momentarily, surprised that she'd actually left, then looked back down at Jasper. She continued to stare at the floor, saying nothing, doing nothing. She was still as a statue, not even moving in rhythm with her breaths. For someone who didn't know any better, she would've looked unconscious or even dead at first glance.

"Jasper?" he whispered to her. The sound of her name prompted her to slowly look up to face him, her face mostly hidden by her blonde bangs, only the dark green spike protruding from her right eye pushed through her hair and made itself visible. Steven tried not to make it too obvious that he was disturbed by the sight.

"Um… if you want, you can sleep on the couch for tonight. Or… don't, since… Gems don't need to sleep and all that." Steven suggested, forcing a smile at her. Jasper had little reaction to his statement, she only looked away with a bitter sigh. "Well, if you don't want to sleep, then… maybe you can watch TV or—or play video games in my room."

Jasper glanced up, giving him a skeptical glare. "I have no idea what you're talking about, runt."

"What do you mean? Don't you have TV on Homeworld? Or—Or even _video games!?"_

"If they do, then I never had any time for it."

"Ugh, no wonder the Gems left that place." Steven whispered to himself for a second, then he remembered when Peridot was still adapting to the Earth. He remembered the several strange, foreign names she had for things that were everyday objects to him and the other Gems. "Oh! Maybe it's not called that on the Gem Homeworld! Well, c'mon, I'll show you, and then maybe you'll recognize it!" He headed towards the steps up to his loft. He had one foot on the second step before he realized that Jasper wasn't following.

"Oh. Jasper, are you com…?"

She hung her head again with a grunt. _"No."_

Steven tilted his head in confusion, then walked back over to her. "Jasper, what's wrong?"

She looked up to face him, looking him dead in the eye. "You just don't get it, do you?" she asked coldly. Her gaze made Steven shiver and shrink away from her.

"Get _what?_ C'mon, Jasper, you've gotta… you've gotta tell me these things!"

Jasper sighed in exasperation. "She was right. That… that confused, defective Pearlof yours _."_

"Right about what?"

"I… have lost. I lost five thousand years ago." Jasper deadpanned. "She mocked me with the threat of shattering. She knew that was what I wanted, what I've wanted for _millennia!_ If I was in shards, then… at least I'd befree, but she couldn't even spare me that mercy! All because of that _lie_ Rose Quartz told them all those years ago!" She dug her claws into the wooden floor a ripped up another chunk of it with a furious cry, making Steven recoil a step.

"But shattering isn't the answer, Jasper! It never is!"

"Why shouldn't it be?! All I do is suffer every second of every day! I'm so tired of it all!"

" _But shattering isn't the answer!"_ Steven reiterated. "I know you're hurting and I know that you're scared and upset, but getting shattered won't make it any better! I've seen those gem shards, Jasper, all they do is crawl around, searching for the lost pieces of themselves after they regenerate. They're so broken and lost, that's all they really know how to do anymore!"

Jasper snarled. "Like it'd be any different from what I'm doing now."

"But… if you were shattered, then you'd never be able to get revenge for Pink Diamond, and you'd never get to know the truth." Steven pointed out.

"Oh, now you're just mocking me." Jasper scoffed. "Rose Quartz is _gone…_ Pink Diamond… is _gone._ There's nothing I can do about it anymore."

"Come on, Jasper, there's gotta be… there's gotta be _something!"_ Steven stepped towards her and took one of her huge hands in two of his smaller ones, surprising the Quartz. She tried to pull away a time or two, but he only held onto her tighter, limiting her movement. "You—You may think that your life doesn't have any purpose anymore, now that Pink Diamond is gone and now that you're Corrupted and you can never back to Homeworld again. But, trust me, it does! All you have to do is take the time to realize that!"

"Realize _what?!_ That I'm a failure?! _That I wasn't even good enough to save my own Diamond!?"_

" _No!_ You may not have been able to save Pink Diamond, but it doesn't mean you're at fault! You never could've seen it coming, Jasper, nobody did! Remember, those three Rubies weren't able to save her either, they were just as helpless as you were at the time." Steven fell silent, looking at Jasper as she stared at him, wide-eyed yet again. It took a moment for her to relax again and she looked away, snarling under her breath.

"But if I had been quick enough… if—if I had just been _strong enough,_ I could've done something! _Anything!"_ Jasper hissed. Steven quickly released her hand when she clenched both of them into tight fists. "But I wasn't… I just stood there and watched it happen like some lowly Pearl! And now, she's gone because I wasn't good enough. She's gone and I'll never get her back…" She clenched her fists so hard that the tips of her clawed fingers dug into and penetrated her palms.

Steven stared down at Jasper as she crouched there, head hung again. As nice as it was to have Jasper not attacking him at every given moment, a part of him wished that the "old Jasper" was back. He wasn't used to seeing her so mentally shattered like this, and it scared him almost. She needed to talk to him or _someone_ about all of this; she'd kept it in for such a long time now that it was beginning to tear apart her mental state from the inside out. Steven was only relieved that she hadn't recorrupted in the midst of all this emotional turmoil, but that realization only made him wonder how long it would be until she _did._

He hardly knew what to do or what to say. He'd never faced a real loss in his life; his own mother was gone, but he had to admit to himself that he didn't know _how_ to feel about her. He'd never even met her, only heard about what'd she done in the past. Other than that, Steven didn't really _know_ loss, and he hoped that he'd never have to. However, there was one Gem that did, and dealt with that feeling for over a decade now. Steven knew how dismissive Jasper was of Pearl, but he had to give it a chance. In the end, maybe they'd both be better off because of it.

"Hey, Jasper?" The only response he got was a soft, raspy grunt. Jasper didn't say anything else, so Steven continued. "Um… I was thinking and… maybe you can talk to… Pearl about this." Jasper looked up and opened her mouth, but Steven quickly cut her off. "Look, I know you don't like her and I know you don't want to talk to her, but she knows about the way you feel better than all the rest of us! She misses Rose Quartz as much as you miss Pink Diamond, and maybe you can talk to each other about the way you feel! It could benefit both of you!"

Jasper replied without missing a beat, "I am not going to waste my time with that Pearl, so you can forget it." She paused for a second, then said something Steven wasn't quite expecting. "You're the only one here that isn't a defective _embarrassment._ You're the only one who's worth even a second of my time! You healed me, you brought me back from that torturous, animalistic form… if only you weren't so _weak,_ then maybe you'd prove to be a useful accomplice. But instead, you're just a tiny, soft… _thing."_

Steven winced, but he wasn't quite sure how to take that. One moment she was praising him, the next she was insulting him? How did that work? He put it to the side for now and decided to focus on the task at hand. As to be expected, Jasper refused to speak to Pearl, and he had a feeling Pearl wouldn't be too fond of the idea either. He knew Garnet and probably Amethyst were both out of the question, but if she didn't settle her differences with the Crystal Gems, then what would be the point of her staying here? There had to be something.

Perhaps he had to start off from a different direction. Instead of making peace with the Crystal Gems, maybe Jasper would have to make peace with _herself_ first. How he would do that was a mystery, however; she blamed herself for Pink Diamond's shattering and, no matter what he tried to say, she wouldn't believe him. Then, he remembered what Garnet had been talking about before and what Jasper had said in response. She hated Garnet because she represented everything Jasper tried, but failed to be in the past: someone that was strong, untouchable, _unbreakable._ In Jasper's eyes, that meant being a Fusion, but all Fusion ever earned her was a lot of emotional and physical turmoil.

Steven thought about the mention of another Fusion that Jasper had apparently been a part of, Rhodochrosite. If Garnet's words were to be believed, which they usually were, Rhodochrosite was one of, if not, Jasper's very first experience with a Fusion, but she too was a toxic, unstable mess. Simply a prelude to the likes of Malachite and the Tiger's Eye Fusion that left Jasper in the state she was in now.

"So, Jasper," Steven began, a bit hesitantly. He rocked back and forth on his feet, putting on an innocent, naïve façade that Jasper clearly wasn't believing. "who is… or, who _was_ Rhodochrosite?"

Jasper perked up at the mention of the name, looking half surprised, and half an emotion Steven couldn't quite read. "You…? _Ugh…_ it doesn't matter. She's nothing but another mistake."

Steven somewhat brightened expression quickly fell and his entire posture seemed to droop at those words. Once more, Jasper evaded his question. At this point, it was becoming a little irritating. He made that fact unintentionally obvious with his words, "C'mon, Jasper, how am I supposed to help you if you won't tell me anything?!"

"You don't _have_ to help me, you know." Jasper deadpanned.

Steven grunted irritably. "I know I don't _have to,_ but I _want to!_ You're lost and you're scared and you're suffering, and I can't bring myself to just let you stay that way!"

"Whether it's what you want or not, it won't change anything! I'm suffering… because it's what I deserve! Shattering is what I deserve… for letting her _die!"_ Jasper's voice suddenly lowered to a whisper, and Steven barely caught her words. "But I'm too much of a coward… too _weak_ to accept the consequences for what I've done. I'm just so—so…" She got out the first syllable before she broke off with a shaky sigh.

Steven's frustration finally gave way to sympathy as he looked down at her, lifting a clawed hand and fiercely rubbing at her single eye. Steven knew exactly what she was going to say, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Not to him, not to herself, not to _anyone._ So he decided to say it for her.

"Jasper… it's okay to be scared." he said simply, forcing a sad smile down at her. "Whether you're a big, bad Quartz soldier or not, it's okay to be afraid every once in a while, anyone would be in a situation like this. I mean… how do you think Pink Diamond felt in her last moments? She probably felt the same way you do right now: scared and… _helpless."_

Jasper snarled softly. "Quartzes don't show fear. It—It's _weakness!"_

"It's not weakness, it's… a feeling, and that's normal. Everyone gets upset or scared or _something_ every now and again, not just you. But they try to hide it and pretend they don't feel anything to try and make themselves feel better, but, in the end, it doesn't. It only makes everything worse." Jasper looked up at him, a skeptical look in her yellow eye and Steven took a step away. "Jasper, is… that what Yellow Diamond told you? That feelings are weakness?" He thought of the song she had sung to Blue in the midst of her mourning.

"It's what I've known ever since the day I emerged."

"Because that's what the Diamonds wanted you to believe!"

" _But what else am I supposed to go by?!"_ Jasper asked, raising her voice again. "All I've known is the Diamonds! Ever since I emerged from the Earth's crust, all I've known is what the Diamonds want me to believe, what purpose they had created for my kind! Pink Diamond was the only one who strayed from what the Authority believed… she was the only one who allowed her Gems any—any _freedom!_ But Yellow called her wrong, _defective_ because of that. Just because she was smaller and didn't think they way they did…"

Steven's eyes widened at those words, and he suddenly smiled down at her; Jasper's face screwed up in confusion at his expression. She opened her mouth to question him, but what Steven had to say was short and simple.

"Remind you of anyone?" His smirk grew a little when Jasper seemed to jerk as if she had received a quick jolt of electricity. Her breathing became audible again, and it quickened. Steven's smirk disappeared when she began to tremble, her gaze snapping around like she had forgotten where she was. "Um… Jasper? Are you okay?" He took a step towards her, but he recoiled again when she abruptly let out a bark of laughter, a sound Steven at first mistook for a growl or a roar.

"They're nothing like Pink Diamond." Jasper hissed, not even looking up to meet Steven's gaze. "They'll _never be_ Pink Diamond!"

"An-And I'm not saying they are!" Steven clarified, putting up both hands as a sign of surrender. "You said that Pink Diamond was different, that she believed all of her Gems were unique. Like those Beta Gems that're guarding the Human Zoo now! There's another Jasper who's really skinny, almost like Pearl, and there's a Carnelian that looks a lot like Amethyst, she's… undercooked, I guess. But Pink still kept them around! They weren't defective, not to _her!"_

Steven waited for a response, but never got one. Jasper opened her mouth a couple of times, but both times, she simply closed it again. He decided to try something else.

"Uh… I remember you saying something about those Quartzes before, Jasper. You were asking about them, you said that Yellow Diamond shattered them… or she _said_ she shattered them, but she didn't. But don't you remember them still? Didn't you serve with them on the battlefield once?"

A moment of silence passed, then Jasper began snickering softly to herself. _"Of course_ I remember them. They were… they were…"

Steven hesitated after she fell silent again. Finally, he was getting somewhere, but a part of him already knew what she was going to say. He asked, nevertheless, "They were… what?"

Jasper clenched her hands, lowering her head and not looking at him anymore. "They were… _ugh._ Those Gems, they were like… like sisters to me." Okay, maybe he _didn't_ know what she was going to say. "They were defective, but… it's hard not to feel _something_ for the Gems you emerged with. They were wrong… but when you were grown in the same Kindergarten, formed from the same material, then you see a bit yourself in all of the other Gems like you."

Steven took a moment to situate himself on the floor in front of her. "Do you… ever… miss them?"

"…Sometimes. We're all that's left of Pink Diamond's army, we were meant to represent her, keep her legacy alive. I try to tell myself that they're defective and that they'd be better off shattered… but it doesn't work. For a long time, I thought they _were_ shattered, and trying to make myself believe that it was what they deserved, it… it only made me feel worse."

"But you know they're not now! They're okay! You're okay, everything's fine!"

" _It's not fine!"_ Jasper roared, leaning forward and getting almost nose-to-nose, or nose-to-gem with Steven. He tensed, but tried to hold his ground. "They are millions of light-years away! Our Diamond is still gone, I…" She relaxed her position a bit and her voice suddenly fell again, sounding much more devastated and quiet. "…they probably don't even think about me anymore. They probably forgot about me a long time ago."

"What do you mean?"

Jasper rose her voice again, as if scolding a disobedient animal. "I was always the 'big, bad, perfect Quartz soldier' to them! In their eyes, I was never like them! Not that I would want to be… _ugh,_ they never understood the way I felt about them, they never really _knew._ I… never told them the way I felt. It's not like anyone really _cares_ about the way you feel, not on Homeworld."

"They probably would have, though." Steven said, looking at the floor a bit sheepishly. "They were all really nice and outgoing, I'm sure they would've understood if you had just let them know! Instead, they probably thought _you_ didn't care for _them._ You _were_ the big, bad, perfect Quartz soldier from Beta, while they were the small, weak Gems that could never add up to the likes of you. They never paid you any mind because… they thought you didn't have time for them. They thought they were just useless defects in your eyes."

Jasper blinked rapidly a few times, then situated herself against the wall, hissing as she covered her face with one hand. "I remember… after Pink was shattered, I returned to Homeworld with her Ruby soldiers and her Palanquin to inform Yellow Diamond of the tragic occurrence. I remember seeing the… _lesser_ Betas there, waiting for Pink's troops outside the Diamond Spire." Steven thought of that towering white _thing_ he saw in the distance on Homeworld. "They thought I was returning to report our victory on the Earth and the rest of Pink's court remained on the colony. They followed me up to the throne room, they were so excited, so… _naïve._

"But, instead of reporting a victory, I reported a tragic failure to the Diamond Authority. Yellow Diamond reacted accordingly, I was punished because of our defeat… I guess that was just her way of letting off steam. Those Betas, they weren't supposed to be there, they never should've been there. But they were, and they all could've lost their lives because of it."

 _A tall, bulky Quartz soldier stood before where the towering figure of Yellow Diamond. Jasper's own form was swathed in a pink ensemble, a rose-coloured insignia adorning the centre of her chest. She lifted and crossed her muscular arms in front of her, forming the Diamond salute in front of the insignia, her eyes closed and bowing her head slightly. When she spoke her voice was low and unstable as she struggled to keep her tone steady._

" _Mookaite Jasper Facet… F-Facet-1A9L Cut-3XN, reporting."_

 _Yellow said, with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Let's not make this take any longer than it needs to. Was your mission on Earth a success, Jasper?"_

 _Jasper dropped the salute and put her arms firmly at her sides, looking up at the Diamond with a stoic expression on her face. Well, as stoic as she could manage at the time. She hesitated for a second, then closed her eyes again, sucking in a deep breath through clenched teeth. "I—I can't say that it is… my Diamond."_

 _Yellow raised an eyebrow at the inferior Gem. "Oh?" Her gaze hardened significantly, making the Quartz flinch beneath her. "And why is_ that?"

 _Jasper suppressed a nervous whimper and glanced behind her, where six Beta Quartzes stood in a straight line in front of the tall double-doors leading out of the throneroom. "I… I—I…" She took a moment to steady her voice, then continued, "The… amiable confrontation with the Crystal Gems' leader proved unsuccessful, my Diamond. We had to use force against Rose Quartz, she managed to poof all but one of Pink Diamond's Ruby soldiers and impaired the third. But, Pink Diamond, she… she…" Jasper stifled a whimper and tightly clenched both hands into fists. Her breathing quickened._

 _Yellow, however, wasn't taking her repeated hesitations. "Get on with it, Jasper!" she snapped, her voice stern and powerful._

 _Jasper grimaced, then closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She said it quickly, like ripping off a band-aid, "Pink Diamond is… gone. Rose Quartz shattered her."_

 _Six collective gasps sounded from behind Jasper and Yellow's eyes widened, then suddenly narrowed again. Jasper held her breath as the towering, authoritative Gem stepped towards her, leaving barely a foot of space between them. Jasper hastily lifted her arms in the Diamond salute once more, struggling to hide her fear. She heard a few scared whimpers and mumbles come from behind her, but she remained frozen._

" _This had better be a joke, Jasper." Yellow said. Her voice was eerily low and calm, which only frightened the Quartzes even more._

" _I—I'm afraid not."_

 _Jasper hesitated for a second, then reached around, pulling an amber gem bubble from her blonde hair and shakily lifting it in front of her, presenting it to Yellow Diamond. There was a pause, then Yellow reached down and lifted the bubble to eye level in order to examine it more closely. Within its confines were several small, jagged pink gem shards, a weak pinkish glow radiating off of them. Jasper squeezed her eyes shut as tears formed within them; she couldn't show weakness, not in front of a member of the Diamond Authority._

 _A long moment of silence hung over the eight Gems, until finally, Yellow tapped the top of the bubble and sent it away, much to Jasper's surprise. However, the peace didn't last long before she reached down once more and, this time, latched on tightly to Jasper's form. Jasper let out a strangled whimper as she was suddenly lifted to eye level with the Diamond, her furious golden gaze burning into the tiny Quartz in her grasp._

" _You… you failed her!" Yellow seethed. "How could you let this happen!? **She was your Diamond!"**_

 _Jasper opened her mouth to speak, but was suddenly squeezed so hard she thought she was going to poof right then and there, but, just when she thought she'd had enough, she was dropped, allowed to free-fall towards the floor. A powerful blow to her chest stopped her descent, sending her flying back and smashing against the far wall, hard enough to form cracks across its surface. Her fellow Quartzes looked on in horror, but all of them were too afraid to make any move to help her. There wasn't anything they_ could _do, this was a Diamond attacking her._

 _Jasper stared up weakly as Yellow strode towards her, continuing to seethe with rage. Bolts of neon electricity crackled around her massive, clenched fists._

" _You should have protected her! You could have prevented this!" Jasper flinched at her seething words, and tensed up hard when she lifted a hand, electrical bolts crackling between all five fingers. Jasper had only seen her wield her electrokinetic powers once before: all it took was a split second of contact to make a Gem, no matter how powerful, retreat into her stone. She'd never expected to be right there in front of the attack herself._

" _You should be shattered! Punishment for a failure as_ grievous _as this!" Yellow roared. "You're lucky you're as well-made as you are! You're too perfect to throw away, so I will take you myself. You have to serve somebody." Jasper only stared up at her, too sore to move or make any attempt at fighting back. She felt deep resentment stab into her chest at those words, but said nothing. "You will bear my insignia once you reform, and if you don't, I will continue to destabilize your physical form until you_ do!"

" _N-No…" Jasper barely managed to choke out. Moaning painfully, she lifted a hand and pointed at where the other Quartzes cowered on the other side of the room. "Th… The others…"_

" _Those embarrassments will be disposed of in your absence, there is no need to worry about that." Yellow said, rather casually. Her tone became cold and hostile again when she turned her attention back to Jasper alone. "For now, take the time to think about what you have done. And, don't forget, your gemspace is the only semblance of peace and freedom you will have from here on out."_

 _With that, Jasper looked on in horror as a neon yellow bolt discharged from Yellow's fingertips, fired straight towards at her chest. She could only scream in indefinable agony as the energy tore apart her entire body with glowing yellow veins, separating her arms and legs from her torso and splitting her chest and stomach into two halves. Only her gemstone was left intact. The last words she heard was Yellow coldly proclaiming, "You deserve to suffer for such a_ disgusting _disposition."_

 _Then Jasper disappeared in an explosion of orange smoke._

"That was the last I'd ever seen of them and I thought they _had_ been executed, that those Betas were just a few more Gems I could add to the list of those I had failed to protect over the centuries, failed to _save_ from their fates. She would've shattered me had I not formed as perfectly as I had, but those Betas… they _weren't._ I can't imagine would it took to convince her otherwise."

Steven sniffled, glancing away and rubbing one of his eyes. "Blue Diamond wanted to keep them, to preserve Pink's legacy. Yellow would've destroyed the entire Zoo if Blue hadn't intervened."

"Hrm." Jasper looked down at her teal-splotched arm, running the opposite hand down her appendage's length. She could almost see the glowing yellow veins arcing across her physical form, cutting her apart, destroying her. Steven looked up to see her shaking and breathing rapidly, lost in her thoughts. The sight disturbed him and he crawled forward, resting a hand on her shoulder. He softly spoke her name, and in response, got a sharp blow to the chest that sent him flying back. Fortunately, he landed safely upon the couch, but…

" _Ah!_ Wha… J-Jasper?!"

She gasped in almost the same instant, and she stared at him, wide-eyed. She lifted both hands and looked them over, taking in reality once more. She let out an exasperated sigh and buried her face in her hands, muttering something incoherently under her breath. He situated himself into a more comfortable position on the couch and stared at her, concerned. This wasn't the first time he'd seen a Gem zone out like that, especially when recalling a bad memory, but he thought better of bringing up Lapis to her right now.

He lifted a hand and put it against his bandaged chest, pushing against it a little. The bandages had cushioned the blow, likely saving him from a few cracked ribs, but he knew that blow wasn't doing the healing injuries there any favours.

"So, uh… it—it's getting late. I need to go to bed soon or Pearl'll kill me." he said with a smile. "Like I said, you can sleep on the couch… if you want, that is." She peeked at him through her fingers, and Steven's smile disappeared. He got down from the couch and started up the steps, "Maybe not, okay. Just, uh… you can do what you want, just don't try to leave or kill me in my sleep or anything, okay?" Jasper remained silent, still glaring at him eerily. "Okay."

Kicking off his sandals, Steven got into bed and pulled the covers up over his body, but he didn't go to sleep, not yet. He watched Jasper, where she remained on the floor, covering her face and saying nothing, _doing_ nothing. He wasn't sure what she decided to do in the end or if she just sat there all night, he fell asleep before he found out. As abnormally eventful as this night had been, Steven expected his dreams to be plagued with Jasper-induced nightmares, as per usual. But, contrary to his expectations, he didn't dream at all really.

He got what he'd been longing for for a couple of weeks now: a peaceful, dreamless night's rest.

 **I mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: Jasper looked up to Pink Diamond as a mother figure in my headcanon, hence why she referred to her as such at the end of the first section.**

 **Now, it may seem like Jasper is warming up to Steven a bit too quickly, but allow me to explain the logic I'm going by here. Even though she's too stubborn to admit it, Jasper partially feels like she owes Steven for (mostly) healing her Corruption and he's the first one she's met to ever treat her with genuine kindness, he's the first one since Pink Diamond to actually care about her feelings and listen to what she has to say. She respects and admires that about him, but she refuses to admit it aloud.**

 **Steven can see right through her, however, hence the way he occasionally snickers at her, knowing that she cares about him and feels thankful for what he did for her, but will never admit it. That's why he continues to give her the benefit of the doubt, despite nearly shattering Pearl and attacking Garnet at first glance; she has potential to be a good, civilized Gem, he just needs to encourage her to be one. And Steven is still trying to cope with what he's learning about his mother; you know what they say, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.**

 **Alright, two more things before I go. You may have noticed that Jasper's memory (the one about Pink's shattering, depicted in chapter one) doesn't line up with what we know in canon as of the Wanted arc. That's the point. Just a little clue, what Jasper is reciting and what Steven remembers from his dream is not accurate to the actual incident, but that's all I'm going to say. Don't worry, I have that aaaalllll planned out before the Crewniverse smashes my headcanons into a fine paste. That's all you get to know for now. The second thing is brief. The two Rubies that Jasper mentioned in this chapter, 4ND and 8NB, are Eyeball, from the canon show, and the non-canon Ruby with the same gem placement as Lapis, seen in Steven's dream sequence way back in chapter one.**

 **Enough said. Stay tuned for chapter ten! It won't take as long this time, I promise!**


	10. I Won't Be Able To Update For A While

**Oh Lord, I'm expecting to get a lot of flak over this, but before you write out a scathing review, hear me out, okay? Please.**

 **Unfortunately, I'm putting this thing on hiatus for an unknown amount of time, not because of writer's block this time, but because of a physical issue. Long story short, I'm legally blind in my left eye and my vision is failing because of a congenital cataract in my right.**

 **Short story long, I was born with a cataract in both eyes; two surgeries in an attempt to fix my left eye, which was worse off at the time, proved futile because I failed to patch it properly. I was seven, and you can't get seven year olds to do anything you ask. Anyway, my right eye has always been dominant, always will be, but after weeks of difficulty seeing, I finally contacted our optometrist to figure out what's going on.**

 **Remember when I said I was born with cataracts in both eyes? Yeah, the one in my right is still there because it wasn't an issue twelve years ago. I guess they didn't expect it to become an issue? Either way, it's an issue now and I'm kinda occupied with making sure I don't go blind on both sides. I have an appointment with my opthalmologist (someone who operates on eyes) next week, so let's hope for the best.**

 **Right now, I can hardly make out the words on my computer screen without straining my eyes; on a handheld device (i.e. phone, tablet), I can hold it closer to my face and make out the text and pictures on the screen better. Before you ask, writing out this 500-word author's note on my tablet is bad enough, much less writing out a 10k word chapter.**

 **I wish I was kidding about this. I know I said y'all can kill me or whatever if I don't get chapter ten up in a month (?), but blame the unforeseen circumstances, not me. Like I could've seen this coming a month ago, y'all, I'm not a Sapphire, I don't have Future Vision. I'm an Emerald. Obviously.**

 **Alright, let's just wrap this up. Real life decided it would f*** me over because of course it did. Like I said, I'll see an opthalmologist next week to get something done about this and then I'll go from there. Please don't hate me, or eat me, or teleport into my bedroom and hit me with a cast-iron frying pan. I'll try to update as soon as I'm able, but for now, I think remedying this issue is more important; I know you folks probably believe otherwise, but we clearly have very different priorities.**

 **That's all for now.**


End file.
